Good Morning~
Being newly diagnosed, my rheumy wants me to have a bone scan. I have to
be injected with dye and then come back 3 hours later for the scan. Anyone
ever have this done before? If so, what was your experience like?
Thanks!yes it was fine . it is one of the best ways to see whats going on .It doesn't sound like it is going to be bad at all--my husband finds is
amused that I will be nuclear!
If you think this might be difficult for you too, let the technician know ahead of time so they can let you move around or relax your position between scans. It also might help to take a pain reliever in advance.
But overall, it's a piece of cake, so not to worry.
I've had a "Bone Density Scan" but I've never had this. Can one of you explain exactly what the goal of the test is? Does it scan your entire body and locate problem areas? Did you guys all have this after first being dx'ed?
I'm curious how expensive it is to have it done. Certain procedures for me are only covered after I meet my deductable. MRI's usually end up costing me about 00 out of pocket. I don't really want to have any test that aren't nesseary; but I'd sure be interested to see what this test would show for me.
A bone scan is a nuclear scanning test that identifies new areas of bone growth or breakdown. It can be done to evaluate damage to the bones, detect cancer that has spread (metastasized) to the bones, and monitor conditions that can affect the bones (including infection and trauma). A bone scan can often detect a problem days to months earlier than a regular X-ray test.
For a bone scan, a radioactive tracer substance is injected into a vein in the arm. The tracer then travels through the bloodstream and into the bones. Areas that absorb little or no amount of tracer appear as dark or "cold" spots, which may indicate a lack of blood supply to the bone (bone infarction) or the presence of certain types of cancer. Areas of rapid bone growth or repair absorb increased amounts of the tracer and show up as bright or "hot" spots in the pictures. Hot spots may indicate the presence of a tumor, a fracture, or an infection.
A bone scan may be done on the entire body or just a part of it.
A bone scan is done to:
I found this Lovie
Lisa that was an awesome explanation. Thank you so much.
Is it common for an RD to order one of these bone scans?
Oh yes thank you Lisa! I too was very interested in this topic and you posted some great information. I'll be peeking over Lovie's shoulder in hopes of learning more. I have an appoinment tomorrow where we were going to do knee/shoulder x-rays as during the study they only did hands, feet and lungs. Perhaps bone scan might be a better way to go. Of course, I'm with Lovie too on not getting unnecessary test done as I can't afford the horrific deductibles.
Natty...Good luck to you, let us know how it goes.
Peace & Love...Neasy
I had a bone scan a couple years ago. As I remember it wasn't so bad. Much more peaceful than the MRI ever was.Lovie & Neasy, my RD ordered the bone scan as the second test to use in diagnosing the RA, the first test being blood work. The third thing he ordered was x-rays of the hands, feet, and pelvis (my SI joints are bad, but it turned out to be all soft tissue problems).
I had posted elsewhere asking how often everyone gets the bone scan and x-rays to check disease progress, and I got a couple of responses saying about once a year.
People get these bone scans once a year?
Glow~What did the bone scan reveal exactly?
It shows where there is activity in the bone...regrowth based on damage I believe. Mine showed symmetrical activity (mild to moderate) throughout the body, with some "hotspots" in my hands, feet, and at the base of my skull. The symmetrical part helped to diagnose that it was RA, and the hotspots helped to show where the damage was occurring most.
So far I've only had the one scan for diagnosis, and that was in November-ish. So I don't know if my rheumy is expecting me to get them done once a year, or even never again.
I've never had one. I wonder why none of my RD's have never ordered one of these before. It seems to be this would be an excellent tool. Are they as expensive as an MRI? Sounds like they should be done before an MRI.A bone scan has never been mentioned to me either Lovie. I'm a little bit irritated as it sounds like they are very common and a valuable tool. Considering how fast the damage can occur, once a year sounds smart. I'll be asking about this at my appoinment today and let you know what they say.
Thanks for the information Innerglow.
Peace & Love...Neasy
I've never had a bone scan due to the RA, but when I fractured my tibia just below the knee last December, the x-rays showed something but were inconclusive for a fracture. My ortho ordered a bone scan which clearly showed the fracture that the x-rays did not show. To me, the films looked like a bone with a big blood pool around the break.I'm with you Neasy! I'm slightly annoyed that my doctors have never recommended this before either. I'll stop short of pushing for one though. I'm not really in the mood to get strapped with another large bill for another test that only once again proves I have RA.
Binge~When you had yours done on your leg did it only show that area or did it show the entire body? From what I read yesterday after googling it I saw where they can do just one area or the entire skeleton!
My scan showed both legs from the hips down, Lovie.MAN~I want one of those things!I just got back from the scan. It was really neat! The tech was more