BONE SCAN LIBRARY

Here are the commonest bone scan pathologies you will come accross:

SHIN SPLINTS:
This occurs because the stress on the bone leads to more active osteoclasts clearing the bone so that more can be trowelled on. This trowelling is the periosteal reaction that you see on the scan.
Classic locations are the posteromedial tibia middle-distal 1/3 border. Appearance can be either fusiform or linear.



PAGETS DISEASE:
This will,4 out of 5 times, involve more than one bone. It starts at the ends of long bones and the leading edge of the hot patch has a flame-like appearance.
The bone is bent and thickened.

The differential is damage bone from chronic osteomyelitis, fibrous dysplasia, and osteosarcoma.

OSTEOMYELITIS:
All 3 phases on the bone scan will be hot, unlike in cellulitis, when only the first two will be hot.