Update on scintigraphic investigations in pediatrics

Over recent years, the significant development of ultrasonography and computerized tomography and the advances in nuclear medicine have created the need to define the indications of diagnostic procedures using radioisotopes. As they are non-invasive and entail low levels of exposure to radiations, these procedures are choice diagnostic tools in pediatrics. Among conventional procedures, thyroid and bone scintigraphy, separate evaluation of lung and kidney functions, detection and quantification of CSF leakage and vesicoureteral reflux, and studies of hepatobiliary transit and cell kinetics remain irreplaceable. The value of new techniques has been established: demonstration of pulmonary aspiration of gastric contents and topographic diagnosis of digestive bleeding. In the future, further advances can be expected as a result of the use of new radiopharmaceuticals