Bone scintiscanning in osteolytic lesions

Osteolytic lesions seen on plain radiographs can be caused by various disorders of the bones such as simple bone cyst, aneurysmal bone cyst, plasmacytoma, giant cell tumor, eosinophilic granuloma and tuberculosis. We studied prospectively Tc-99m-methylene diphosphonate bone scan findings in osteolytic lesions seen radiologically and followed them to histopathology. Interestingly, the scans in these patients helped to show if the lesions were monoostotic or polyostotic and, in some cases, ruled out malignant or infective etiology.