Final answer:
A bone scan is a medical imaging procedure used to detect various bone conditions by injecting a short-lived radioactive tracer into the body. It creates images showing where the bones are most active, indicating potential issues such as bone cancer, infections, and bone diseases like Paget’s disease.
Step-by-step explanation:
What is a Bone Scan?
A bone scan is a nuclear imaging procedure that helps diagnose and track various bone-related conditions. In a bone scan, a radioactive tracer, which is a radioactive substance, is injected into the patient's bloodstream.
The tracer has an affinity for bone tissue, especially in areas where the bones are active due to growth, repair, or disease. The radioactive tracer emits gamma radiation, which can be detected by an external scanner.
The image produced reveals the distribution of the tracer in the skeleton, which helps to identify abnormalities such as fractures, infections, or bone cancer. Areas with increased activity, indicating faster bone turnover, show up as 'hot spots' on the scan images.
Clinical Use of Bone Scans
Clinically, bone scans are utilized to diagnose conditions such as fractures, especially stress fractures that might not be visible on X-rays, infections (osteomyelitis), and bone cancer. They can also detect bone disorders like Paget's disease, which involves abnormal bone destruction and regrowth.
In this disease, blood levels of an enzyme called alkaline phosphatase are typically elevated, and bone scans can aid in diagnosis by showing areas of bone resorption. Additionally, bone scans can monitor the progress of treatments for bone diseases or the effects of conditions such as cancer that has metastasized to the bones.