Case report reveals persistent colonic 99mTc-MDP activity identifying a complex urinary-enteric fistula in a pelvic cancer patient, indicating the need to investigate non-artifactual bowel uptake.
Intense bowel activity on 99mTc-MDP bone scintigraphy is often dismissed as urinary contamination or radiopharmaceutical instability, but persistent uptake should prompt an anatomic search. A 68-year-old woman with metastatic cervical squamous cell carcinoma after radical pelvic surgery underwent bone scintigraphy for suspected left-foot metastasis. Images showed sacral/pelvic metastases, benign-appearing calcaneal uptake, and organized colonic activity. Contrast-enhanced CT revealed a complex fistulous tract connecting the left distal ureter, vaginal stump, rectum, and sigmoid colon. Follow-up pelvic SPECT/CT localized persistent activity to the rectosigmoid lumen, confirming fistula-related intraintestinal urine. Recognition redirected interpretation from artifact to actionable urinary-enteric fistula with clinical implications.
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Yu et al. (2026) studied this question.
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