CLINICAL UTILITY OF BONE SPECT SCINTIGRAPHY IN RENAL METASTASES FROM PRIMARY OSTEOSARCOMA

Renal metastases from primary osteosarcomas are rather uncommon and ra rely diagnosed early because the patients are asymptomatic and frequen tly die from other metastatic involvement before renal symptoms develo p. The authors present a patient with two clinically silent renal meta stases from primary osteosarcoma of the right femur 2 years after surg ery of the primary lesion that was first detected on radionuclide bone imaging. Subsequently, a CT scan and a CT guided needle biopsy were p erformed for confirmation. The patient underwent a left nephrectomy an d two separate lesions were proven to be metastatic osteosarcoma. The clinical importance of the nuclear bone scan in the initial management , as well as in the subsequent follow-up of patients after surgery, ca nnot be overemphasized.