The Bone Scan in Osteomyelosclerosis

Fig. 1 An F-18 sodium fluoride PET scan was performed for highly accurate bone scintigraphy1 in a female patient (63 years) who suffered from backache and in whom 4 years earlier osteomyelosclerosis was diagnosed. The bone scan displayed in unusual details the skeleton and showed a very intense uptake in the lower legs, shoulders, and elbow joints. This uptake pattern was described elsewhere as nearly pathognomonic for osteomyelosclerosis.2 Based on comparative scintigrams of the skeleton and bone marrow, the unusually detailed depiction of the skeleton was explained by thickening of the cortical bone and trabeculae and intense uptake in the joints and distal extremities because of peripheral bone marrow expansion.2