Scintigraphic detection of prosthetic joint and soft tissue sepsis secondary to tuberculosis

In a 40-year-old Hispanic woman with pain and swelling in the left knee with a prosthesis, the combination of Ga-67 citrate and Tc-99m methylene diphosphonate (MDP) scans was used to indicate that there was a septic prosthetic joint. At surgery, the joint was infected and a foreign body was found. Cultures positive for tuberculosis were found also. The presence of an incongruent Ga-67 and Tc-99m (MDP) scan pattern suggests infection of the prosthetic joint, as in the following case.