Ivory vertebra appearing photopenic on Tc-99m MDP bone scan: demonstration by SPECT/CT.

Abstract

We report the case of a 72-year-old man with prostate cancer, in whom Tc-99m MDP bone scintigraphy revealed a "superscan" pattern, except in a dorsal vertebra, which appeared photopenic. A low-dose SPECT/CT acquisition demonstrated that the lack of tracer uptake corresponded to a blastic lesion with no lytic component. Surprisingly, the cold vertebra appeared as an "ivory vertebra" on the CT part of the SPECT/CT acquisition. In the present case, the photopenic appearance is thought to be due to a concomitant blastic lesion and spine infarct.

• Authors: Nicolas Aide, Sylvie Costo, Stéphanie Lheureux, Nejla Allouache, Stéphane Bardet
• Journal: Clinical nuclear medicine (Clin Nucl Med) Vol. 33 Issue 7 Pg. 479-81 (Jul 2008) ISSN: 1536-0229 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 18580234 (Publication Type: Case Reports, Journal Article)

Chemical References

• Technetium Tc 99m Medronate

Topics

• Aged
• Bone and Bones (diagnostic imaging)
• Disease Progression
• Humans
• Male
• Neoplasm Metastasis
• Phenotype
• Prostatic Neoplasms (diagnosis, diagnostic imaging, pathology)
• Radionuclide Imaging
• Technetium Tc 99m Medronate
• Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon (methods)
• Tomography, X-Ray Computed (methods)
• Whole Body Imaging