Scintigraphic findings in Gaucher's disease

Gaucher's disease involves the liver, the spleen, and the bone. Liver-spleen and bone scintigraphy were used during an 8-yr period to evaluate changes caused by this disease. Patients were investigated with a liver-spleen scan for abdominal pain, mechanical discomfort, enlarged liver or spleen on physical examination, abdominal mass, abnormal liver function tests, and symptoms of hypersplenism. Fourteen liver-spleen scans were performed in nine patients. Liver scintigraphy showed various degrees of enlargement and inhomogeneous uptake. In two patients focal defects were detected. In one, focal defects were due to liver involvement with Gaucher's disease, but in the other they were caused by metastatic pancreatic carcinoma. The study was also useful in detecting splenic infarction and in following enlargement of the spleen after partial splenectomy. The main indication for bone scintigraphy in six patients was bone pain. This was found to be caused by either aseptic necrosis of the head of the femur, bone infarction, pathological fractures, or osteomyelitis. Loosening after total hip replacement was ruled out in three patients and missed in one patient. Scintigraphy appears to be a simple, sensitive test for evaluation of the liver, spleen, and bony skeleton in patients with symptomatic Gaucher's disease.