Society of Nuclear Medicine Procedure Guideline for Bone Scintigraphy

A. Bone scintigraphy is a diagnostic study used to evaluate the distribution of active bone formation in the body. B. Whole-body bone scintigraphy produces planar images of the skeleton, including anterior and posterior views of the axial skeleton. Anterior and/or posterior views of the appendicular skeleton also are obtained. Additional views are obtained as needed. C. Limited bone scintigraphy records images of only a portion of the skeleton. D. Bone single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) produces a tomographic image of a portion of the skeleton. E. Multiphase bone scintigraphy usually includes blood flow images, immediate images, and delayed images. The blood flow images are a dynamic sequence of planar images of the area of greatest interest obtained as the tracer is injected. The immediate (blood pool or soft tissue phase) images include 1 or more static planar images of the areas of interest, obtained immediately after the flow portion of the study and completed within 10 min after injection of the tracer. Delayed images may be limited to the areas of interest or may include the whole body, may be planar or tomographic, and are usually acquired 2–5 h after injection. If necessary, additional delayed images may be obtained up to 24 h after tracer injection. III. Common Indications