Scintigraphy and PET in metabolic bone disease

The use of bone-seeking radiotracers is based on the concept that pathophysiologic processes affecting bone usually result in increased local bone turnover, which, in turn, results in increased radiotracer uptake. When compared to standard positron annihilation (PET)-CT, EXPLORER decreases the radiation exposure and increases sensitivity and spatial resolution. One of the main advantages of bone scanning is its ability to provide evaluation of the entire skeleton in a single and rapid imaging test. The role of nuclear medicine is not limited to diagnosis of fracture caused by osteoporosis but extends to the assessment of side effects from drugs used in the treatment of osteoporosis. Because of the risk of delayed diagnosis of displaced complete fracture, early assessment for fractures using a highly sensitive technique, such as scintigraphy or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), is recommended. The most commonly encountered differential diagnoses which use nuclear medicine are Paget disease, hyperparathyroidism, hypertrophic osteoarthropathy, osteomalacia and rickets.