抄録
The usefulness of bone scintigraphy using 99m-Tc-labeled phosphorous compounds was evaluated in 134 of 234 patients with cancers of the head and neck who were treated between June 1975 and March 1985.
The overall positive rate in bone scintigraphy was 49%, but the true-positive rate was 25%. Distant bone metastases were found in 18% of the patients. Fifty-five per cent in the patients with true-positive bone scintigraphy had positive x-ray findings. The most common sites of distant bone metastases in head and neck cancers were the rib and the thoracic vertebrae. The rate of distant metastases increased with the T-classification. No relation was observed between bone scintigraphy and serum alkaline phosphatase activity.
In conclusion, bone scintigraphy with 99m-Tc-diphosphonate was found to be very useful in detecting early bone metastases.
