Bone scintigraphy in the assessment of the hallucal sesamoids

Bone scintigraphy is frequently used to evaluate suspected hallucal sesamoid pathology. Increased scintigraphic activity of the hallucal sesamoid is assumed to corroborate clinical suspicion of pathology, but the incidence of such increased uptake has not been studied in an asymptomatic population. Using a 0 to 2 bone scintigraphic rating system, 25 of 86 (29%) asymptomatic infantry recruits and 7 of 27 (26%) asymptomatic sedentary adults were found to have grade 1 or grade 2 activity. When using scintigraphy to evaluate hallucal sesamoid pathology, caution should be used in interpreting the meaning of increased scintigraphic activity.