Bone Scan

Bone Scans are performed to evaluate the overall health of your bone. Some of the more common indications are:

• Primary or metastatic tumors – initial evaluation or follow-up of therapy
• Pain of suspected musculoskeletal etiology
• Paget’s disease
• Stress or occult fractures
• Trauma
• Osteomyelitis or musculoskeletal inflammation
• Bone viability – grafts or avascular necrosis (AVN)
• Metabolic bone disease
• Arthritis
• Prosthetic joint evaluation for loosening or infection
• Evaluation of abnormal findings by other imaging modalities
• Evaluation of abnormal laboratory findings especially elevated alkaline phosphatase
• Reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD)
• Suspected Charcot’s joint

During the first component of the exam the technologist will explain the procedure and ask you some questions regarding your overall bone health. The technologist will then inject the radiopharmaceutical into a vein in your arm and ask you to return for the scan portion of the exam 2 to 3 hours later. The scan portion consists of a nuclear medicine camera passing over your body. The camera does not emit any radiation, but rather detects the radiation emitted from the radiopharmaceutical that was injected. The camera is open so you are not completely surrounded and the technologist may stay in the scan room with you. The scan portion of the exam will generally take about 45 minutes. You will be asked to hold still but you do not need to hold your breath.

Clothing

Please wear comfortable clothing, you will be asked to remove any metal objects

Medications

There are no medication restrictions

Food and Drink

You may eat and drink before the exams. It is also recommended to drink plenty of fluids, such as several glasses of water, before the scan to help eliminate the radiopharmaceutical from your system after the exam.

The benefits of Bone Scan:

• Bone scans are non-invasive procedures that are more sensitive than X-rays in evaluating bone structure and function. They can detect hot spots indicating areas of high bone metabolism or abnormalities such as bone disease or tumors that have spread to the bone.
• Bone scans can identify conditions including fractures, infections, and other abnormalities that might not be visible on standard X-rays.

Risks you should be aware of:

• There are no significant risks associated with bone scans. The amount of radiation used is very small and typically has no side effects. However, there is a very slight risk of allergic reactions to the radiopharmaceutical.
• You may experience some bleeding from the biopsy site where the radiopharmaceutical was injected.