A new method for diagnosing fever of unknown origin (FUO) due to infection of muscular-skeletal system in elderly people: leukoscan Tc-99m labelled scintigraphy.

Twenty patients affected by fever of unknown origin (FUO), due to a likely infection of the muscular or skeletal tissues, were studied by a Total Body scan with a monoclonal antibody fragment (Leukoscan) labelled with Tc-99m. The diagnostic procedure helped reach a final diagnosis in 8 out of the 20 patients because it identified the focus of the infection of the muscles or bones in joint proximity. Our data show that Leukoscan deserves to become a first line diagnostic procedure in the diagnostic algorithm for the evaluation of patients with FUO.