Abstract
Whole body bone scanning with 99mTc-labelled phosphates is now well established in routine clinical practice. It is the most sensitive indicator of early pathology in the skeleton and it remains a non-invasive, safe, and easy procedure. It has passed the test of time and it is unlikely to be replaced even by the most modern computerised axial tomography techniques. The unique ability to display a high resolution image of the entire skeleton in 20 minutes is largely responsible for its wide clinical acceptance. The main disadvantage of the technique—the inconvenient waste of time, usually three hours, between tracer injection and actual image procedure-can now be overcome by utilising superior radio-pharmaceuticals and data processing techniques.
A new 99mTc-Imidodiphosphonate was utilised in 100 patients presenting for whole body scanning. Good quality reproducible images were obtained one hour after intravenous administration of the radiopharmaceutical. Utilising a digital subtraction technique, this new bone scanning agent gave clinical information identical to that obtained with standard three-hour scans. 99mTc-Imidodiphosphonate is now our routine home-made bone seeking radio-pharmaceutical, produced at a cost of 50 pence (approximately $ U.S.1) per whole body scan. The relative rapidity of the procedure has permitted a significant increase in the number of investigations performed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Altman, R.D., Johnston, C.C., Khairi, M.R.A., Wellman, H., Serafini, A.N., Sankey, R.R.: Influence of disodium etidronate on clinical and laboratory manifestations of Paget's disease of bone (osteitis deformans). N. Engl. J. Med. 289, 1379 (1973)
Barrett, J.J., Smith, P.H.S.: Bone imaging with 99mTc polyphosphate: a comparison with 18F and skeletal radiography. Br. J. Radiol. 47, 387 (1974)
Britton, K.E., Brown, N.J.G.: Clinical renography. London: Lloyd-Luke 1971
Brody, K.R., Hosain, B.S.P., Spencer, R.P., Hosain, F., Wagner, H.N.: Technetium-99m-labelled imidodiphosphonate. An improved bone seeking radio-pharmaceutical. Br. J. Radiol. 49, 267 (1976)
Bull, U.U., Schuster, J.P., Pfeifer, J., Tongendorff, J., Neindorf, H.P.: Bone to bone, joint to bone and joint to joint ratios in normal and diseased skeletal states using R.O.I. technique and bone seeking radio-pharmaceuticals. Nucl. Med. (Stuttg.) XVI, 3, 104 (1977)
Ell, P.J., Al-Eid, M.A., Lui, D., Pearce, P., Elliott, A.T., Brown, N.J.G.: High quality, high throughput, early body bone scanning. Nucl. Med. (Stuttg.) (In press)
Ell, P.J., Myers, M.: Comparison of a new whole body scanner with a large crystal scanning camera in whole body imaging. Europ. Nucl. Med. (In press)
Elliott, A.T., Brown, N.J.G., Ell, P.J., Gibbs, T.: A new whole body multi-crystal scanner. Description and comparison with other imaging systems. Fifth Annual Meeting British Nuclear Medicine Society 1977
Gomez, E., Green, F.A., Hays, M.T.: New techniques for identification of synovitis and evaluation of joint disease. Bull. Rheum. Dis. 25, 786 (1974–75)
Graber, P., Rutishauser, G., Baumann, J.M.: Eine vergleichende Bewertung von saurer Serumphosphatase, konventioneller Röntgendiagnostik, Knochenbiopsie und Sr85-Szintigraphie als Methoden zum Nachweis von Knochenmetastasen beim Prostatacarcinom. Urologe A 10, 60 (1971)
Greenberg, E.J., Weber, D.A., Pochaczevsky, P.J., Kenny, P.L., Meyers, W.P.L., Laughlin, J.S.: Detection of neoplastic bone lesions by quantitive scanning and radiography. J. Nucl. Med. 9, 613 (1968)
Gynning, I., Langeland, P., Lindberg, S., Walderskog, B.: Localisation with 85Sr of spinal metastases in mammary cancer and changes in uptake after hormone and roentgen therapy. Acta Radiol. [Diagn] (Stockh.) 55, 119 (1961)
Murray, I.P.C.: Clinical uses of bone scanning. In: Proceedings of the First Congress of Nuclear Medicine, Tokyo 1974
Sanyal, B.: Dosimetry from whole body bone scanning. M. Sc. Thesis, London University 1977
Silberstein, E.B., Saenger, E.L., Tofe, A., Alexander, G.W., Park, H.M.: Imaging of bone metastasis with 99mTc Sn-EHDP (diphosphonate) 18F and skeletal radiography. Radiology 107, 551 (1973)
Subramanian, G., McAfee, J.G.: A new complex of 99mTc for skeletal imaging. Radiology 99, 192 (1971)
Subramanian, G., McAfee, J.G., Blair, R.J., Rosenstreich, M., Coco, M., Duxbury, C.E.: Technetium-99m-labelled stannous imidodiphosphate—A new radio-pharmaceutical agent for Bone Scanning. J. Nucl. Med. 16, 1137 (1975)
Subramanian, G., McAfee, J.G., Rosenstreich, M., Cow, M.: 99mTc-labelled stannous imidodiphosphate (99mTc-IDP): evaluation of a new bone scanning agent. Nucl. Med. (Stuttg.) 16, 6 574 (1975)
Taskinen, P.J., Vahatalo, S.: Sr85 profile counting and scanning in early diagnosis of bone metastases. Nucl. Med. (Stuttg.) 10, 265 (1971)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ell, P.J., Elliott, A.T., Sanyal, B. et al. An improved whole body bone scanning technique. Skeletal Radiol. 3, 24–29 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00365108
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00365108