Atlas of Bone Scintigraphy in the Developing Paediatric Skeleton: The Normal Skeleton, Variants and Pitfalls

Radioisotope bone scans of the paediatric skeleton have been undertaken in the Departments of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine on a daily basis. Indications for bone scintigraphy include infection, trauma, primary benign bone tumours, as well as malignancy. Other conditions such as avascular necrosis and certain dysplasias also warrant a bone scan. When faced with a child who is symptomatic, but in whom the diagnosis is uncertain, eg. the child with a limp of backache, will require a bone scan to exclude the skeleton as the source of the symptoms. For Departments where paediatric bone scans are carried out infrequently this Atlas will provide a crucial reference for the Radiologist, Nuclear Medicine Physician and Orthopaedic Surgeon, to be able to compare any particular paediatric bone scan with the variations of normality as displayed in the Atlas. Important advice is given to ensure high quality bone scan images which will allow better differentiation between normality and abnormality. This Atlas should be on the shelf of any department which undertakes bone scintigraphy in children, expecially if this is done on an irregular basis.