Focal small-bowel localization of bone-imaging radiopharmaceutical in a child

Bone scintigraphy is an important diagnostic tool in the evaluation of skeletal pathologic conditions. However, the extraskeletal uptake of bone-seeking radiotracers is still an unexpected finding in most cases. We present a 5-year-old male with an unexpected focal accumulation of the radiotracer in the small bowel. Bowel accumulation of bone-seeking radiopharmaceuticals has been seen previously in children in the colon and mainly in the cecum, but not in the small bowel. The mechanism for such accumulation is not completely clear and may be explained by focal histological disturbances of a small-bowel segment that contributed to excretion of the radiotracer from the blood-to-bowel lumen.