Bone scintigraphy in detection of bone invasion by oral carcinoma

Abstract

Detecting osseous involvement is clinically important in the management of oral carcinoma. Thirty-one patients with osseous involvement due to oral carcinoma who underwent panoramic radiography and bone scintigraphy were evaluated retrospectively. Bone scintigraphy confirmed osseous involvement in all 31 (100%) of these patients. In 27 (87%) of 31 patients with osseous involvement, both the panoramic radiogram and bone scintigram were positive. In the remaining four patients (13%), bone scintigram was positive for mandibular or maxillary invasion, while panoramic radiogram was negative. There were no instances of an abnormal radiogram with a normal bone scintigram. These findings strongly suggest that bone scintigraphy is more sensitive than panoramic radiography in detecting osseous involvement of the mandible and maxilla due to oral carcinoma. Furthermore, bone scintigraphy was a critical pre-surgical in determining the extent of the osseous involvement.

Technetium-99m Bone Scan and Panoramic Radiography in Detection of Bone Invasion by Oral Carcinoma

“…Panoramic radiography was false negative [ There were no instances of an abnormal radiograph with a normal bone scintigraph. In 1996, Higashi et al, [38] reported similar observation in their study. In our study, there was no false negative result on Tc scan when used either alone or in combination indicates its extreme sensitivity.…”

Bone Scintigraphy and Panoramic Radiography in Deciding the Extent of Bone Resection in Benign Jaw Lesions

“…But some lesions are aggressive and/or invasive and hence, their extent remains undetected on static imaging, which can lead to an incomplete excision and recurrence. On the other hand, bone scintigraphy is functional imaging and it is highly sensitive than radiography [16]. It has an ability to show physiological changes in bone and hence, it offers an earlier detection of pathology.…”