Diagnostic possibilities of bone scintigraphy in metabolic osteoarthropathies

A review is made of the current development of radionuclide scintigraphy of metabolic and endocrine osteopathies, its diagnostic value for early diagnosis. It is stressed that in these pathologic states there is a diffuse involvement of the skeleton, and the characteristic focal changes are not discerned unless there are spontaneous fractures, pseudofractures and cysts. Of particular importance is therefore to increase the specificity of the method by quantitative assessment of the radiopharmaceutical, fixed in the bones. Various methods of quantitation of bone scintigraphy available in the surveyed literature are presented. 23 refs