[Pierre-Marie's osteoarthropathy: scintigraphic diagnosis during staging of lung cancer]

In the last years, total bone scan has gained an important place in the staging of the neoplasms of the lung. Out of 271 patients with lung cancer who underwent a bone scan in the period october 1979-october 1980. 10 showed an increased fixation of the isotope with a linear pattern along the diaphysis of the limbs. These findings, clinically silent, suggested the diagnosis of hypertrophic osteoarthropathy, which has been subsequently confirmed radiologically. The different pathogenetic theories and the evolution of the scintigraphic picture after therapy of the primary disease are briefly discussed.