Degenerative disc disease in the lumbar spine: another cause for focally reduced activity on marrow scintigraphy

A patient is presented in whom a focal reduction in marrow activity in the lumbar spine on both leucocyte and nanocolloid marrow scintigraphy was subsequently shown to be due to fatty infiltration of marrow in association with disc degeneration. Degenerative disease in the lumbar spine has not been previously described as a cause of abnormal bone marrow distribution by such means and needs to distinguished from a more serious pathology, such as malignant infiltration and vertebral infection, which it may mimic. In a retrospective review of 33 nanocolloid bone marrow and 117 leucocyte scintigrams, 8 showed a degree of reduced marrow activity in the lumbar spine consistent with that caused by degenerative changes.