Abstract
In 22 drug addicts, the clinical diagnosis of osteomyelitis and/or septic arthritis was suspected because of symptoms of sepsis and pain in various locations.
All patients underwent bone scintigraphy with 17–20 mCi of 99mTc labeling either pyrophosphate or methylene diphosphonate. Whole body and spot scans located the area of disease in most patients. This permitted biopsy of the affected area when the pathogen recurs.
One of the two patients whose scintigrams were normal was on adequate treatment before the bone scintigram and the other was on oxacillin.
Radiographs of the affected areas were normal, which indicates bone scintigraphy should be preferred to radiography in the early diagnosis of osseous infections.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allsby R, Staheli L (1974) Pyogenic infection of the sacro-iliac joint in children, radioisotope bone scanning as a diagnostic tool. Clin Orthop 100:96
Briggs JH, McKerron CG, Souhami RL (1967) Severe systemic infections complicating “mainline” heroin addiction. Lancet 2:1227
Craig FS (1956) Verebral-body biopsy. J Bone Joint Surg 38A:93
Dequeker J, Goddeeris T, Walravens M, De Roo M (1978) Evaluation of sacro-illiitis: comparison of radiological and radionuclide techniques. Radiology 128:687
Goldin RH, Chow AW, Edwards JE, Jr, Louie JS, Guze LB (1973) Sternoarticular septic arthritis in heroin users. New Engl J Med 289:616
Holzman RS, Bishko F (1971) Osteomyelitis in heroine addicts. Ann Intern Med 75:693
Holzman RS, Bishko F (1971) Osteomyelitis in heroin addicts. Ann Intern Med 75:693
Kurtzman RS (1970) Complications of narcotic addiction. Radiology 96:23
Lentle BC, Russel AS, Percy JS, Jackson FI (1977) The scintigraphic investigation of sacroiliac disease. Diagn Nucl Med 18:529
Lopez-Majano V, Miskew DBW (submitted) Sacroiliac joint disease in drug addicts. The role of bone scintigraphy. Eur J Nucl Med
Louria DB, Hensle T, Rose J (1967) The major medical complications of heroin addiction. Ann Intern Med 67:1
Miller JH, Gates GF (1977) Scintigraphy of sacroiliac pyarthrosis in children. JAMA 238:2701
Namey TC, McIntyre J, Buse M, LeRoy EC (1977) Nucleographic studies of axial spondarthritides: I. Quantitative sacroiliac scintigraphy in early HLA-B27-associated sacroiliitis. Arthritis Rheum 20:1058
Sonnemaker RE, Ferguson RH, Tauxe WN (1972) 87mSr scintiphotography of the sacro-iliac joints: a new cirterion for the diagnosis of ankylosing spondylitis. J Nucl Med 13:467
Staheli LT, Nelp WB, Marty R (1972) Strontium 87m scanning, early diagnosis of bone and joint infections in children. JAMA 221:1159
Trauner DA, Connor JD (1975) Radioactive scanning in diagnosis of acute sacroiliac osteomyelits. J Pediat 87:751
Waxman AG, Bryan D, Siemsen JK (1973) Bone scanning in the drug abuse patient: early detection of hematogenous osteomyelitis. J Nucl Med 14:647
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lopez-Majano, V., Miskew, D. & Sansi, P. Bone scintigraphy in drug addiction. Eur J Nucl Med 6, 17–21 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00257067
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00257067