Bone marrow scintigraphy in the diagnosis of bone metastasis in prostate cancer

We investigated bone marrow scintigraphy in 20 patients with prostate cancer to determine the usefulness of this procedure in the diagnosis of bone metastasis. Thirteen of 17 patients whose bone scans revealed hot spots showed accumulation defects in bone marrow scintigrams. Follow-up study and X-ray, computed tomography and/or magnetic resonance imaging findings confirmed the presence of bone metastases in these patients. On the other hand, 4 patients with abnormal bone scans had normal bone marrow scintigrams, and were subsequently demonstrated to have degenerative changes of the spine. Bone marrow scanning therefore appears to be useful in distinguishing metastatic lesions from degenerative changes in cases with suspected bone lesions.