Is Tc-99m human immunoglobulin G scintigraphy (HIG-scan) useful for the detection of spinal inflammation in ankylosing spondylitis?

Objective To determine the effectiveness of technetium-99m labelled polyclonal human immunoglobulin G (HIG-scan) scintigraphy to detect spinal inflammation in p atients with ankylosing spondylitis. Methods Six ankylosing spondylitis (AS) patients with inflammatory axial pain and 3 spinal osteoarthritis (OA) patients with mechanical axial pain underwent a n HMDP scan and an HTG-scan. Results In both AS and spinal OA patients complaining of axial back pain, mechanica l and inflammatory axial pain, bone scintigraphy revealed foci of markedly increased tracer accumulation. An HIG-scan of the region of increased uptak e on bone scintigraphy did not reveal increased tracer accumulation in eith er group of patients. Conclusion The data suggest that the MIG-scan is not useful in detecting inflammatory spinal lesions in ankylosing spondylitis.