Using a bone scan when cancer is suspected can be particularly helpful because the scan can find both primary cancer—or, cancer that started in your bones—and bone metastases, which is cancer that has spread to the bones from another part of your body.
Bone scans show changes in your bones, but they don't tell you if it's because of cancer or not. You may have to have other tests to figure out what the changes mean. These extra tests will tell you if the spots are cancerous or related to another problem, like arthritis.
A bone scan might help determine the cause of unexplained bone pain. The test is sensitive to differences in bone metabolism, which are highlighted in the body by the radioactive tracer. Scanning the whole skeleton helps in diagnosing a wide range of bone disorders, including: Fractures.
Biopsy. The most definitive way of diagnosing bone cancer is to take a sample of affected bone and send it to a laboratory for testing. This is known as a biopsy. A biopsy can determine exactly what type of bone cancer you have and what grade it is.
The radioactive material (contrast) may be needed sometimes and not always with an MRI. An MRI creates 3D images of the bone, whereas a bone scan creates two-dimensional (2D) images. The MRI provides a detailed view of the bone and its surrounding structures such as the ligaments, tendons and soft tissue.
Bone scans are used primarily to detect the spread of metastatic cancer. Because cancer cells multiply rapidly, they will appear as a hot spot on a bone scan. This is due to the increased bone metabolism and bone repair in the area of the cancer cells.
Bone pain. Pain caused by bone cancer usually begins with a feeling of tenderness in the affected bone. This gradually progresses to a persistent ache or an ache that comes and goes, which continues at night and when resting.
Bone cancer can begin in any bone in the body, but it most commonly affects the pelvis or the long bones in the arms and legs. Bone cancer is rare, making up less than 1 percent of all cancers. In fact, noncancerous bone tumors are much more common than cancerous ones.
A bone scan is a test that can help doctors diagnose problems with your bones. It is a useful tool for finding cancer that has started in or spread to the bone. It can also help your doctor check how well treatment is working for cancer in the bone.
They're often used to help diagnose bone-related health problems, such as osteoporosis, or to assess the risk of getting them. Total body bone density scans can also be used to measure the amount of bone, fat and muscle in the body.
A bone scan may be used to show bone tumours, infection and fractures in your bones.
The false positive rate varies from 1.6% to as high as 22%, while the false negative rate varies from 0.96% to 13%. We observed a 70-year-old woman with a diagnosis of breast cancer and a false negative bone scan despite extensive bone metastases.
Blood tests. Blood tests are not needed to diagnose bone cancer, but they may be helpful once a diagnosis is made. For example, high levels of chemicals in the blood such as alkaline phosphatase and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) can suggest that the cancer may be more advanced.
The results of a bone scan are usually available within 2 days. Normal: The radioactive tracer is evenly spread among the bones. No areas of too much or too little tracer are seen.
Bone metastasis can occur in any bone but more commonly occurs in the spine, pelvis and thigh. Bone metastasis may be the first sign that you have cancer, or bone metastasis may occur years after cancer treatment.
High-grade bone cancer looks very abnormal compared with healthy tissue and tends to grow and spread more quickly. High-grade tumors may also be described as poorly differentiated. The bone cancer grade may help your care team determine how quickly the cancer is likely to spread and how best to treat it.
If the cancer is diagnosed at the localized stage, the 5-year survival rate is 81%. If the cancer has spread to surrounding tissues or organs and/or the regional lymph nodes, the 5-year survival rate is 67%. If the cancer has spread to distant parts of the body, the 5-year survival rate is 38%.
What does bone cancer feel like? The most common bone cancer symptom is pain, though sometimes these tumors are painless. The pain may be mild or severe. Many people describe it as throbbing, aching or stabbing.
Because MRIs can reveal abnormal appearance or physical abscess in bones, they are more effective at detecting bone cancer than traditional bone scans. They can also identify cancer earlier than bone scans can, allowing MRIs to detect the disease before cancer reaches the bones.
This could show a lack of blood supply to the bone or certain types of cancer. Areas of fast bone growth or repair absorb more tracer and show up as bright or "hot" spots in the pictures.
While a bone density test alone can't determine whether you have arthritis, your doctor may order one if you have inflammatory types of joint disease, as these can be risk factors for bone loss.
A bone scan carries no greater risk than conventional X-rays. The tracers in the radioactive substance used in a bone scan produce very little radiation exposure. The risk of having an allergic reaction to the tracers is low. However, the test may be unsafe for pregnant or breastfeeding women.
CT scans of the bones can provide more detailed information about the bone tissue and bone structure than standard X-rays of the bone, thus providing more information related to injuries and/or diseases of the bone.