QUANTITATIVE BONE GALLIUM SCINTIGRAPHY IN OSTEOMYELITIS

Gallium imaging offers many practical advantages over indium-111-label ed leukocyte imaging, and calculating quantitative ratios in addition to performing the routine bone-gallium images allows accurate and easy evaluation of patients with suspected osteomyelitis. To add objectivi ty and improve the accuracy and confidence in diagnosis of osteomyclit is, quantitative comparison of abnormalities seen on bone scans and ga llium scans was performed. One hundred and ten adult patients with 126 sites of suspected osteomyelitis were evaluated and categorized by ga llium-to-bone ratios, gallium-to-background ratios, and spatial incong ruency of gallium and bone activity. Combined evaluation using these c riteria gave a 70% sensitivity and 93% specificity for the diagnosis o f osteomyelitis.