• Donohoe KJ, Brown ML, Collier BD, Carretta RF, Henkin RE, Royal HD, O'Mara RE. Procedure guideline for bone scintigraphy, 3.0. Reston (VA): Society of Nuclear Medicine; 2003 Jun 20. 5 p. [10 references]

This is the current release of the guideline.

This guideline updates a previous version: Society of Nuclear Medicine. Procedure guideline for bone scintigraphy, 2.0. Reston (VA): Society of Nuclear Medicine; 1999 Feb. 25 p. (Society of Nuclear Medicine procedure guidelines; no. 2.0).

Background Information and Definitions

1. Bone scintigraphy is a diagnostic study used to evaluate the distribution of active bone formation in the body.
2. Whole-body bone scintigraphy produces planar images of the skeleton, including anterior and posterior views of the axial skeleton. Anterior and/or posterior views of the appendicular skeleton also are obtained. Additional views are obtained as needed.
3. Limited bone scintigraphy records images of only a portion of the skeleton.
4. Bone single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) produces a tomographic image of a portion of the skeleton.
5. Multiphase bone scintigraphy usually includes blood flow images, immediate images, and delayed images. The blood flow images are a dynamic sequence of planar images of the area of greatest interest obtained as the tracer is injected. The immediate (blood pool or soft tissue phase) images include one or more static planar images of the areas of interest, obtained immediately after the flow portion of the study and completed within 10 minutes after injection of the tracer. Delayed images may be limited to the areas of interest or may include the whole body, may be planar or tomographic, and are usually acquired 2 to 5 hours after injection. If necessary, additional delayed images may be obtained up to 24 hours after tracer injection.

Common Indications

1. Neoplastic disease
2. Occult fracture
3. Osteomyelitis
4. Stress reaction/stress fracture
5. Avascular necrosis
6. Arthritides
7. Reflex sympathetic dystrophy
8. Bone infarcts
9. Bone graft viability
10. Otherwise unexplained bone pain
11. Distribution of osteoblastic activity before radionuclide therapy for bone pain

Procedure

The detailed procedure recommendations in the guideline address the following areas: patient preparation; information pertinent to performing the procedure (i.e., important data that the physician should have about the patient at the time the exam is performed and interpreted); precautions; information regarding the radiopharmaceutical (i.e., ranges of administered activity, organ receiving the largest radiation dose, effective dose), image acquisition; interventions; processing; interpretation criteria; reporting; quality control, and sources of error.

None provided

The type of evidence supporting the recommendations is not specifically stated.

• Donohoe KJ, Brown ML, Collier BD, Carretta RF, Henkin RE, Royal HD, O'Mara RE. Procedure guideline for bone scintigraphy, 3.0. Reston (VA): Society of Nuclear Medicine; 2003 Jun 20. 5 p. [10 references]

Not applicable: The guideline was not adapted from another source.

1999 Feb (revised 2003 Jun 20)

Society of Nuclear Medicine, Inc - Medical Specialty Society

This guideline has received recognition from the American Medical Association (AMA) for the process of development.

Society of Nuclear Medicine (SNM)

Guideline Task Force

Authors: Kevin J. Donohoe, MD (Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA); Manuel L. Brown, MD (Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, MI); B. David Collier, MD (Faculty of Medicine, Kuwait University, Kuwait); Robert F. Carretta, MD (Amersham Health, Princeton, NJ); Robert E. Henkin, MD (Loyola University Medical Center, Maywood, IL); Robert E. O'Mara (University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, NY); and Henry D. Royal, MD (Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, St. Louis, MO)

Not stated

This is the current release of the guideline.

This guideline updates a previous version: Society of Nuclear Medicine. Procedure guideline for bone scintigraphy, 2.0. Reston (VA): Society of Nuclear Medicine; 1999 Feb. 25 p. (Society of Nuclear Medicine procedure guidelines; no. 2.0).

None available

This summary was completed by ECRI on May 20, 1999. It was verified by the guideline developer as of May 26, 1999. This NGC summary was updated by ECRI on April 14, 2005.

This NGC summary is based on the original guideline, which is subject to the guideline developer's copyright restrictions.