What is the procedure for a bone scan?
During a bone scan, a radioactive substance is injected into a vein that is taken up by your bones. You’ll then be monitored for several hours. A very small amount of radiation is used in the substance, and nearly all of it is released from your body within two or three days.
How does Skeletal scintigraphy work?
Skeletal scintigraphy is a special type of nuclear medicine procedure that uses small amounts of radioactive material to diagnose and assess the severity of a variety of bone diseases and conditions, including fractures, infection, and cancer.
How is a radionuclide bone scan performed?
In a bone scan a small quantity of radionuclide is injected into a vein in your arm. It then takes some time – sometimes several hours – for the radionuclide to travel to the target tissue and to be ‘taken’ into the active cells. So, after receiving the radionuclide you may have a wait of a few hours.
How does technetium bone scan work?
Technetium-99m MDP Tc-99m emits 140 keV gamma rays upon decay, and these gamma rays are detected by nuclear gamma cameras to allow localizing where the Tc-99m travels within the body. For imaging bone metabolism, the radionuclide is usually attached to medronic acid (methylene diphosphonate).
What does bone scintigraphy show?
A bone scan is a nuclear imaging test that helps diagnose and track several types of bone disease. Your doctor may order a bone scan if you have unexplained skeletal pain, a bone infection or a bone injury that can’t be seen on a standard X-ray.
What is scintigraphy used for?
Scintigraphy is used to diagnose, stage, and monitor disease. A small amount of a radioactive chemical (radionuclide) is injected into a vein or swallowed. Different radionuclides travel through the blood to different organs.
Why am I having a bone scan?
Your doctor may order a bone scan if you have unexplained skeletal pain, a bone infection or a bone injury that can’t be seen on a standard X-ray. A bone scan can also be an important tool for detecting cancer that has spread (metastasized) to the bone from the tumor’s original location, such as the breast or prostate.
What is the difference between a bone scan and a CT scan?
A bone scan is a nuclear imaging test that aids in the diagnosis and tracking of several bone diseases. A CT scan uses a combination of X-rays and a computer to create images of the bones. In a bone scan, the physician injects a radioactive material or tracer into the vein to highlight the problematic areas.
When do we use scintigraphy?
What can technetium-99m scintigraphy be used for?
Most recently, technetium-99m scintigraphy has been combined with CT coregistration technology to produce SPECT/CT scans. These employ the same radioligands and have the same uses as SPECT scanning, but are able to provide even finer 3-D localization of high-uptake tissues, in cases where finer resolution is needed.
How often is technetium-99m used in nuclear medicine?
Technetium-99m is used in 20 million diagnostic nuclear medical procedures every year. Approximately 85% of diagnostic imaging procedures in nuclear medicine use this isotope as radioactive tracer.
How is 99mTc extracted from technetium-99m generator?
At the hospital, the 99mTc that forms through 99Mo decay is chemically extracted from the technetium-99m generator. Most commercial 99Mo/ 99mTc generators use column chromatography, in which 99Mo in the form of water-soluble molybdate, MoO 4 2− is adsorbed onto acid alumina (Al 2O 3).