Stress fractures and bone pain

Conference · Sat Dec 31 23:00:00 EST 1983 · J. Nucl. Med.; (United States)

OSTI ID:7089721

Groshar, D; Even-Sapir, E; Lam, M; Israel, O; Front, D

Stress fractures result from an unusual repetitive physical activity causing absorption of bone in excess of repair and bone formation. This leads to the weakening of the bone and subsequently to a fracture. It is a benign condition that if recognized in time does not need any treatment besides rest. However, if diagnosis is not made and physical activity continues it may result in severe injury to the bone and a frank fracture may result. Pain is the typical clinical feature and bone scintigraphy, being more sensitive than radiography, is done to establish early diagnosis. The presence of asymptomatic sites of abnormal bone uptake typical of stress fracture in which pain appeared only about 2 weeks after scintigraphy, drew the authors' attention to the question of how close is the relationship between stress fractures and bone pain. Sixty-four military recruits diagnosed as suffering from stress fracture were investigated in order to correlate sites with abnormal uptake of Tc-99m MDP on bone scintigraphy with sites of local pain. In 37 (58%) subjects multiple sites of abnormal uptake were recognised. Of 123 sites of abnormal uptake, 31 (25%) were asymptomatic. In three patients bone pain appeared at the site of the abnormal uptake two weeks after scintigraphy. Bone scintigraphy appears to be more sensitive than bone pain in the diagnosis of stress fractures. The osteoblastic activity which manifests itself by abnormal uptake appears in some cases earlier than the pain caused by the fracture. Present findings may suggest that under certain circumstances, in a population prone to stress fracture, bone scan should be considered as a screening method.

• Research Organization: Rambam Medical Center and Technion Faculty of Medicine, Haifa
• OSTI ID: 7089721
• Report Number(s): CONF-840619-
• Journal Information: J. Nucl. Med.; (United States), Journal Name: J. Nucl. Med.; (United States) Vol. 25:5; ISSN JNMEA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

550601* -- Medicine-- Unsealed Radionuclides in Diagnostics
62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE
ABSORPTION
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BIOMEDICAL RADIOGRAPHY
BONE FRACTURES
COUNTING TECHNIQUES
DIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUES
DIAGNOSTIC USES
HOURS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
INJURIES
INTERMEDIATE MASS NUCLEI
ISOMERIC TRANSITION ISOTOPES
ISOTOPES
MEDICINE
MILITARY PERSONNEL
NUCLEAR MEDICINE
NUCLEI
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
PAIN
PERSONNEL
RADIOISOTOPE SCANNING
RADIOISOTOPES
RADIOLOGY
SCINTISCANNING
SCREENING
SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS
SYMPTOMS
TECHNETIUM 99
TECHNETIUM ISOTOPES
UPTAKE
USES
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES