Scintigraphic diagnosis of hip osteochondritis and acute transient synovitis in pediatrics

Acute transient synovitis of the hip joint of inflammatory origin and ischemic hip osteochondritis present in most cases a same clinical symptomatology. Radiological findings are often unable to differentiate both diseases in their early phase. Therefore, radioisotopic investigation, combining assessment of vascularisation and bone tracer uptake could be of value regarding this important diagnostic problem. The results of a scintigraphic study performed in 39 children with suspected osteochondritis or synovitis, are reported. It is concluded that a scintigraphic evaluation is able to demonstrate with a good sensitivity the changes in vascularisation and bone metabolism. It yields elements for the differential diagnosis between transient acute synovitis and osteochondritis, the most frequent origin of limping in childhood