technetium-tc-99m-medronate and Celiac-Disease

No data are available on the presence and frequency of peripheral or central joint disease, routinely determined by bone scintigraphy with 740 MBq of [99mTc]MDP, in adult celiac disease. Bone scintigraphy was carried out to detect early acute inflammatory lesions in 22 adult celiac patients (15 females and seven males; mean age 36.72 years, range 17-63). Bone scintigraphy was positive for sacroiliitis in 14 cases (63.6%). Except in the case of one patient suffering from rheumatoid arthritis, laboratory data were normal. Our data suggest that as in other chronic intestinal diseases, celiac disease in adults, is frequently associated with central joint disease. This high incidence of sacroiliitis, the joint disease most frequently found in our patients, has not been previously reported in other series. We believe, therefore, this difference could be explained by the different methodology used for the screening of joint disease.

Topics: Adult; Arthritis; Celiac Disease; Female; Humans; Incidence; Male; Radionuclide Imaging; Sacroiliac Joint; Technetium Tc 99m Medronate

A patient with undiagnosed, long-standing coeliac disease had multiple hot spots on skeletal scintigraphy, similar to those observed in malignant disease metastatic to the skeleton. A gluten-free diet corrected the pathological laboratory values, and a repeat skeletal scintigram 15 months after the first one was normal. It is important to identify the secondary hyperparathyroidism of coeliac disease as a cause of multiple hot spots in skeletal scintigraphy--the finding resembles malignancy, but is due to a benign, curable condition.

Topics: Adult; Bone and Bones; Celiac Disease; Female; Humans; Hyperparathyroidism, Secondary; Radionuclide Imaging; Technetium Tc 99m Medronate