Scintigraphy of toddler's fracture

Under ordinary circumstances a toddler's fracture of the lower extremity is diagnosed by clinical evaluation and history. Often the initial conventional radiograph is unrevealing, but the fracture is diagnosed and treated based on appropriate clinical and laboratory findings. In rare instances, a patient with an unsuspected toddler's fracture may present with an atypical history, unusual physical findings, or laboratory values suggesting the presence of an inflammatory process. Skeletal scintigraphy in this small group of patients has been valuable in defining a spiral fracture of the midshaft of the tibia connected with a toddler's fracture. We report the scintigraphic appearance from the findings in six patients with unsuspected toddler's fracture evaluated by this method.