An abnormal scan will show "hot spots" and/or "cold spots" as compared to surrounding bone. Hot spots are areas where there is an increased collection of the radioactive material. Cold spots are areas that have taken up less of the radioactive material.
The areas where the radionuclide collects are called "hot spots," and may indicate the presence of conditions such as arthritis , malignant (cancerous) bone tumors , metastatic bone cancer (cancer which has spread from another site, such as the lungs), bone infections , bone trauma not seen on ordinary X-rays, and ...
Bone scans
During a bone scan, a small amount of radioactive material is injected into your veins. Abnormal areas of bone will absorb the material at a faster rate than normal bone and will show up as "hot spots" on the scan.
Scan A shows hot spots (dark areas) in both knees, a sign of arthritis, and a possible fracture in the second toe of the right foot. Otherwise, it shows typical bone metabolism.
An abnormal bone scan shows hot spots or cold spots. Hot spots are areas of bone where the tracer has collected. Hot spots can be caused by bone cancer, arthritis, a bone infection or disease. Cold spots are areas of bone where there is no tracer.
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.
Areas of active bone changes attract the radioactivity and appear as “hot spots” on the skeleton. Hot spots may suggest areas of cancer, but other bone diseases can also cause the same pattern. To make an accurate diagnosis, other tests such as plain x- rays, MRI scans, or even a bone biopsy might be needed.
Bone scan.
These hot spots indicate areas where there is more bone turnover than normal. Paget's disease almost always looks hot on a bone scan, except when the condition has been present for a long time and has burned out.
When inflammation is present, blood flow to that area increases in proportion to the inflammation. A radioactive marker is injected into a vein (through an IV), and the marker will travel to the area of inflammation. Time is allowed for the marker to reach the area of inflammation or high bone turn over.
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.
Image A, anterior bone scan, correlates to the the color scale (graph) above. Pixels start to change color from black/purple (low counts) to orange/red (high counts). Therefore, the positions of the image that displays yellow/red have the greatest amount of counts possibly representing some type of abnormality.
The overall false-positive rate of bone scans ranges from 10% to 22%,2,14,15 and the false-negative rate is estimated at 10%.
If the result shows change or damage to your bones, you may need more tests. These tests may include other types of bone scans. A computed tomography (CT) scan and a positron-emission tomography (PET) scan can be done following a bone scan.
Most patients with metastatic bone disease survive for 6-48 months. In general, patients with breast and prostate carcinoma live longer than those with lung carcinoma. Patients with renal cell or thyroid carcinoma have a variable life expectancy.
Which Type of Cancer Spreads the Fastest? The fastest-moving cancers are pancreatic, brain, esophageal, liver, and skin. Pancreatic cancer is one of the most dangerous types of cancer because it's fast-moving and there's no method of early detection.
Spinal cord compression: As the vertebra is the most common site of metastasis, a significant complication includes spinal cord compression, which is an oncologic emergency.
Paget cells usually stain for markers of eccrine and apocrine derivation including low molecular weight cytokeratins (CK), periodic acid-Schiff (PAS), gross cystic disease fluid protein (GCDFP-15), and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA).
The key histopathological feature of Paget disease involveS the bone architecture and includes the three phases of the disease: mixed, osteolytic, and osteosclerotic. These phases may occur at the same time or separately.
Paget's disease usually begins in the cancellous bone of an epiphysis or metaphysis. A diaphysis is the first site involved in some instances, and the anterior subperiosteal area of the proximal half of the tibia in a very small number of cases.
Most bone tumors are benign (not cancerous), but a few are cancerous. Known as primary bone cancers, these are quite rare, accounting for less than 0.2 percent of all cancers.
Changes in subchondral bone are recognized as a hallmark of OA, but are normally associated with late-stage disease when degeneration is well established. However, early changes such as Bone Marrow Lesions (BMLs) in OA are a relatively recent discovery.