Nuclear Medicine in Pediatric Musculoskeletal Imaging.

The pediatric skeleton is a dynamic structure. Bone scintigraphy depends on bone metabolism and therefore is particularly applicable to changes occurring in the physes (growth-plates). A knowledge of the physiologic changes in the growing skeleton as well as the disease processes affecting the different pediatric age brackets are necessary to accurately solve clinical diagnostic problems with bone scintigraphy. Bone scintigraphy is a readily available, low-radiation imaging procedure. In this article, the common pediatric skeletal aberrations (appendicular growth alterations, hip pain, back pain, some aspects of trauma, inflammatory and infectious processes, and some common benign neoplastic occurrences) that can be addressed by nuclear imaging are discussed.