Abstract |
The stress fracture is a disease caused by and abnormal
stress to the normal bone with constant, repeated pull.
Early detection of stress fracture plays an important
role in treatment and prevention of its complication.
Bone scintigraphy was performed to evaluate 18 patients
with stress fracture of the lower extremities from May,
1985 to April, 1987, in the Department of Internal
Medicine of National Police Hospital. The results were
as follows: 1) Seventeen of the 18 cases showed
positive bone scans at the initial study performed from
1 week to 5 months after the onset of symtom. 2) Ten of
the18 patients had findings of stress fracture at the
initial X-ray film. Two out of 8 negative case revealed
positive findings in the follow-up studies. 3) The bone
scans in the 2 cases taken 5 months after the onset of
symtom; the one showed only slightly increased
radiouptake, the other showed no abnormal findings. In
conclusion, bone scanning is a more sensitive indicator
of early stress fracture than radiologic study, The
healing phase is characterized by a gradual decline in
radioactivity at the fracture site in concordance with
subsidence of symptom. |