What is the scintigraphy of the bones of the skeleton?

Scintigraphy of the bones of the skeleton is a functional method of diagnosing bone pathology. The principle of this method is the unequal absorption of normal and pathological bone tissue radioactive preparation. This drug is administered in a dosage that does not have a toxic effect on the body, but is the so-called "label" for pathological tissues.

There are many varieties of indicator drugs that are designed to investigate certain body systems. For bones of the skeleton, it is best to use bisphosphonates with 99mTc on the walls. This drug has the maximum penetrating ability in bone structures.

As a result of the diagnostic scintigraphy of the skeleton, a two-dimensional image is obtained - this is quite enough to detect abnormalities in the structure and pathological processes.

Scintigraphy of the bones of the skeleton can be logged in the following situations:

- Oncological pathology with possible metastasis,

- directly tumor processes in the bones,

- fractures,

- as an observation of the dynamics of treatment.

Scintigraphy of the skeleton is carried out in special gamma cameras. The structure of this room is such that it is able not only to capture the smallest photons, but also to increase their strength several times. As a result, a massive light flash is formed, which is captured by a special spectrometric machine. Thus, it is possible to determine the distribution of the labeled drug throughout the skeletal region.

The radiopharmaceutical is administered three hours before the proposed study. It is during this time that the substance manages to spread through the circulatory system absolutely to all bones of the skeleton. Then immediately begin the diagnosis, which does not take more than an hour. The result can be assessed almost immediately after the procedure - it is very convenient for both the patient and the doctor.

Scintigraphy of the bones of the skeleton at the moment is one of the most popular and demanded methods for diagnosing bone pathology. Advantages of this study:

- a small amount of time and money spent on the procedure;

- high informativeness (allows to see the signs of malignant process in the bones for several months before visualizing them on the roentgenogram);

- painless for the patient and absolute safety.

It should be noted that scintigraphy of the bones of the skeleton was made in the United States for the previous year 17 million times, that is, perhaps more than 10 million human lives were saved. After all, in the fight against cancer, the most important thing is early diagnosis.

In Western countries, bone scintigraphy is not something new and surprising, it is, rather, the usual method of diagnosis, which is performed in virtually any clinic. In less developed countries, this study is considered an unaffordable luxury and is only carried out in large medical centers. The equipment also leaves much to be desired - most often these are outdated gamma cameras.

It should be understood that scintigraphy can be used not only to diagnose bone diseases. It has found its wide application in cardiology, for revealing the pathology of the heart. Myocardial scintigraphy is performed with several different drugs, but the principle of the method remains the same.

"Pertechnetat" - a special labeled drug for diagnosing thyroid diseases with the help of a gamma camera.

Also there are various radioactive preparations, tropic to the lung tissue and renal glomeruli. This allows us to diagnose the pathology of these systems at the earliest stages.

In general, scintigraphy is a universal method for diagnosing many pathologies of internal organs, and most likely in the future it will be more common in all countries.