technetium-tc-99m-medronate and Anterior-Compartment-Syndrome

The three-phase bone scan is finding increasing utility in acute and chronic pain syndromes in sports medicine settings. This useful technique may have significant clinical application in assessing the increasing numbers of patients with exercise induced lower leg or medial tibial pain. The authors present a case of exertional lower leg pain or medial tibial pain in which three-phase bone imaging exhibited a dramatic increase in early flow after a simple derived exercise stress. The three-phase bone scan should play a key role in the assessment of exercise pain, and may be enhanced by the addition of simple exercise intervention.

Topics: Adult; Anterior Compartment Syndrome; Bone and Bones; Cumulative Trauma Disorders; Exercise; Exercise Test; Humans; Male; Pain; Radionuclide Imaging; Regional Blood Flow; Technetium Tc 99m Medronate; Tibia

This study compares the bone scan appearances in 32 patients with medial tibial syndrome (MTS) with the appearance in 28 patients with confirmed chronic compartment syndrome (CCS). A distinctive pattern of uptake was seen in 30 patients, 24 of whom had MTS and 6 of whom had CCS. Of the patients with normal scans, only 4 had MTS, the remaining 15 had CCS. Both of these findings are statistically significant and confirm that bone scans are a useful diagnostic tool in the differential diagnosis of exercise-induced lower leg pain.

Topics: Adult; Anterior Compartment Syndrome; Athletic Injuries; Diagnosis, Differential; Exercise; Female; Fractures, Stress; Humans; Male; Pain; Radionuclide Imaging; Syndrome; Technetium Tc 99m Medronate; Tibia