Value of bone scintiscan for diagnosis of arterial prosthesis infection: Preliminary results

Diagnosis of arterial prosthetic infection is often difficult to confirm. S everal cases of lower extremity hypertrophic osteoarthropathy (HOA) have be en associated with arterial prosthetic infection. The presence of bone and joint abnormalities could constitute an early sign of HOA. The purpose of t his prospective study was to determine the diagnostic value of routine bone scintiscan in patients hospitalized for suspected arterial prosthesis infe ction. Between December 1995 and May 1997, 17 patients with suspected infec tion were admitted to our institution. All underwent bone scintiscan before surgical treatment. Presence or absence of infection was defined according to the criteria proposed by Yeager. During the same period, bone scintisca n was performed in a control group of 8 patients with arterial prostheses b ut no clinical or laboratory signs of infection. Scintiscans were studied t o detect bone and joint abnormalities distal to the arterial prosthesis. Th e results of this preliminary study indicate that routine bone scintiscan c an assist definitive diagnosis in patients with suspected arterial prosthes is infection. Demonstration of bone and joint abnormalities distal to a pro sthesis appears to be a fairly sensitive and highly specific sign of infect ion. DOI: 10.1007/s100169910088.