open access

Vol 11, No 2 (2008)
Submitted: 2012-01-23
Published online: 2008-11-05
Get Citation

Age-related changes in skull uptake on bone scintigraphy: a quantitative study

Ramin Sadeghi, Seyed Rasoul Zakavi, Masrour Ghasemov, Vahid Reza Dabbagh Kakhki
Nucl. Med. Rev 2008;11(2):67-69.

open access

Vol 11, No 2 (2008)
Submitted: 2012-01-23
Published online: 2008-11-05

Abstract

BACKGROUND: “Hot skull”, or diffuse increased activity of bone seeking radiotracers, is frequently seen in the bone scans of some patients, especially elderly women. This finding has been attributed to enhanced bone metabolism in old age.
MATERIAL AND METHODS: We semi-quantitatively studied 342 normal bone scans (161 male and 181 female within the age range 12 to 82 years). We divided the patients into 7 age groups: 10-19, 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, and 70 and above. The geometric means of the anterior and posterior background corrected skull and mid-femoral ROI values were used for calculation of the skull to femoral ratio (SFR).
RESULTS: The skull to femoral ratio was significantly higher in female patients in the age groups 30-39 and above. In females, the five upper age groups (30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, and 70 and above) had significantly higher SFR than the lower age groups. In males, the two upper age groups (60-69, 70 and above) had significantly higher SFR than the lower age groups. The findings in males were not concordant with the previous studies addressing this issue, which could be explained by different bone mineral density in the Iranian population.
CONCLUSION: Our data showed that “hot skull” is not necessarily an abnormal finding, especially in elderly women. We suggest that every nuclear medicine department uses its own normal values and reference samples for quantitative evaluation, due to ethnic or socio-economical variations.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: “Hot skull”, or diffuse increased activity of bone seeking radiotracers, is frequently seen in the bone scans of some patients, especially elderly women. This finding has been attributed to enhanced bone metabolism in old age.
MATERIAL AND METHODS: We semi-quantitatively studied 342 normal bone scans (161 male and 181 female within the age range 12 to 82 years). We divided the patients into 7 age groups: 10-19, 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, and 70 and above. The geometric means of the anterior and posterior background corrected skull and mid-femoral ROI values were used for calculation of the skull to femoral ratio (SFR).
RESULTS: The skull to femoral ratio was significantly higher in female patients in the age groups 30-39 and above. In females, the five upper age groups (30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, and 70 and above) had significantly higher SFR than the lower age groups. In males, the two upper age groups (60-69, 70 and above) had significantly higher SFR than the lower age groups. The findings in males were not concordant with the previous studies addressing this issue, which could be explained by different bone mineral density in the Iranian population.
CONCLUSION: Our data showed that “hot skull” is not necessarily an abnormal finding, especially in elderly women. We suggest that every nuclear medicine department uses its own normal values and reference samples for quantitative evaluation, due to ethnic or socio-economical variations.
Get Citation

Keywords

bone scan; skull; osteoporosis; methylen diphosphonate; age

About this article
Title

Age-related changes in skull uptake on bone scintigraphy: a quantitative study

Journal

Nuclear Medicine Review

Issue

Vol 11, No 2 (2008)

Pages

67-69

Published online

2008-11-05

Page views

616

Article views/downloads

3034

Bibliographic record

Nucl. Med. Rev 2008;11(2):67-69.

Keywords

bone scan
skull
osteoporosis
methylen diphosphonate
age

Authors

Ramin Sadeghi
Seyed Rasoul Zakavi
Masrour Ghasemov
Vahid Reza Dabbagh Kakhki

Regulations

Important: This website uses cookies. More >>

The cookies allow us to identify your computer and find out details about your last visit. They remembering whether you've visited the site before, so that you remain logged in - or to help us work out how many new website visitors we get each month. Most internet browsers accept cookies automatically, but you can change the settings of your browser to erase cookies or prevent automatic acceptance if you prefer.

By VM Media Group sp. z o.o., Świętokrzyska 73 street, 80–180 Gdańsk, Poland

phone: +48 58 320 94 94, fax: +48 58 320 94 60, e-mail: viamedica@viamedica.pl