Application of Sr-87m besides Tc-99m-MDP for diagnosis of patients suspected of loose hip prostheses

A comparison of technetium-99m diphosphonate and strontium-87m scans of more than 50 patients with a hip prosthesis is presented. A newly-developed Sr-87m generator, using yttrium-87, is described. The preliminary results render that technetium gives 10-25% false-positive and no false-negative scans. Strontium scans possess a good correlation with the true situation, when dealing with the possibility of a loosened prosthesis. In order to avoid unnecessary operations a strontium scan should follow a positive technetium scan. (Auth.)