Diagnostic patterns for bone marrow oedema syndrome and avascular necrosis of the femoral head in dynamic bone scintigraphy.

This study used logistic regression analysis to assess qualitative patterns of tracer accumulation in an attempt to improve the diagnostic utility of bone scintigraphy for the detection of the bone marrow oedema syndrome (BMOS) and avascular necrosis (AVN) of the femoral head. Forty-eight symptomatic patients aged 44 +/- 9 years (mean +/- S.D.) with a final diagnosis of AVN (n = 29 hips), BMOS (n = 22), nine other hip disorders or a normal hip were examined with dynamic bone scintigraphy and qualitatively assessed for 11 scintigraphic signs in four phases by three blinded investigators. The accuracy for a correct diagnosis based on individual experience was 60-61% for the three observers, even if different signs were emphasized. A cold spot in the femoral head in both blood pool phases and the bone phase was seen only in 24% of AVN hips. Diffuse tracer accumulation in the femoral head, neck and the intertrochanteric region in the blood pool phases was seen only in 36% of BMOS hips. The arterial phase and the finding of a normal acetabulum in the bone phase had no diagnostic utility in this study. The presence of uptake increased the accuracy of differentiating AVN and BMOS from other disorders or normal hips to 88%. AVN could be differentiated from BMOS with an accuracy of 86% if the signs of the femoral head and inter-trochanteric uptake were combined into a diagnostic pattern. The scintigraphic pattern described increases the diagnostic accuracy of planar dynamic bone scintigraphy for BMOS and AVN.