Abstract |
Bone scan is one of the most frequently performed studies in nuclear medicine. In bone scan, the amount
of radioisotope taken up by lesion depends primarily on the local rate of bone turnover rather than on the
bone mass. Bone scan is extremely sensitive for detecting bony abnormalities. However, abnormalities that
appear on bone scan may not always represent disease. The normal scan appearances may be affected
not only by skeletal physiology and anatomy but also by a variety of technical factors which can influence
image quality. Many normal variants and artifacts may appear on bone scan. They could simulate a
pathologic process and could mislead into the wrong diagnostic interpretation. Therefore, their recognition is
necessary to avoid misdiagnosis. A nuclear medicine physician should be aware of variable appearance of
the normal variants and artifacts on bone scan. In this article, a variety of normal variants and artifacts
mimicking real pathologic lesion in bone scan interpretation are discussed and illustrated.
Key Words: Tc-99m MDP, bone scan, normal variant, artifact |