Single-photon Emission CT Combined with Spiral CT for Early Detection and Localization of Bone Metastasis: A Review

Background: Bone metastasis is common in cancer. Evaluating the metastatic status in cancer is of utmost importance in order to provide the best patient’s management. Discussion: Bone scintigraphy is widely used for evaluation of bone metastasis. It has high sensitivity with limited specificity. Planar bone scintigraphy has been shown to have increased radiotracer uptake without accurate anatomic localization and characterization. Hybrid Single-Photon Emission Computed Tomography/Computerized Tomography (SPECT/CT) system has been developed by combination of SPECT and CT. Accurate lesion localization and discrimination of equivocal bone lesions is an advantage in this hybrid technique. It improves diagnostic accuracy by differentiation of benign bone lesions from malignant ones due to their morphological changes. So, SPECT/CT improves the specificity of bone scintigraphy leading to better outcomes in diagnosis and treatment outcomes of bone metastatic cancer patients. Conclusion: In here, we discussed the prognostic value of bone scintigraphy and SPECT/CT in bone metastasis with our clinical experience and review of the literature.