Bone Scan Objectives and Study Guide

1. Identify the different types of radiopharmaceuticals used to image the skeletal system and discuss their physiological processes. Consider: ³²P and ⁴⁵Ca, ⁸⁵Sr, ^87mSr, ¹⁸F, ¹⁸FDG, and the different types of ^99mTc phosphate compounds.Link
2. Understand basic bone physiology and relate this to MDP uptake in normal tissue and disease.Link
3. Evaluate the difficulty in determining different diseases in bone scintigraphy.  (look at the case studies)
4. Compare different technetium based bone radiopharmaceuticals. Link
5. Evaluate image quality in bone scintigraphy.. Link
6. Define and discuss the technicalities in bone scintigraphy: detector size, whole body vs. spot imaging, bladder activity, patient hydration, age of the patient vs. radiopharmaceutical uptake, 3 & 4 phase bone scan, pinhole imaging, and SPECT imaging. Link
7. Compare radiographs to nuclear medicine when imaging the bone.Link
8. Assess the bone scintigraphy in the evaluation of non-cancerous disease (look at the case studies)
9. Define which types of metastatic cancers and primary bone cancers that can be diagnosed with bone scintigraphy. Link
10. Compare Na¹⁸F to ¹⁸FDG to MDP. Link
11. Differentiate between a lytic and blastic diseases of the bone.Link
12. Identify the utilization of bone scintigraphy in: nonunion of bone fracture, prostheses (infection vs. loosening), AVN, radiation therapy to the bone and child abuse. Link
13. Setup the following bone procedures: whole body, SPECT, three phase, and spot view(s). Link

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