The usefulness of Tc-99m-MDP bone scintigraphy in detection of articular involvement of Behçet's disease.
Articular involvement was reported to be present in approximately 5-76% of Behçet patients. Therefore, we need a useful non-invasive method to detect articular involvement early in Behçet patients with nonspecific complaints. We aimed to evaluate the usefulness of 99mTc-methylene diphosphonate (Tc-99m-MDP) bone scintigraphy in the detection of the articular involvement of Behçet's disease (BD). Bone scintigraphy with Tc-99m-MDP was performed in 32 (17 male, 15 female) consecutive patients with BD. The sacroiliac (SI) joints with SI index higher than 1.34 were diagnosed as having sacroiliitis. Although joint complaints were present in only 8 (25%) patients, we detected joint involvement by scintigraphy in 27/32 (84.4%) Behçet patients mostly affecting the knees (62.5%), ankles (59.4%), SI joints (25%), wrists (21.9%), shoulders (18.7%), elbows (12.5%) and hips (3.1%). The articular involvement was monoarticular in four cases (12.5%) and was oligoarticular in the remaining. There was no correlation between joint involvement and age, gender, disease duration, drug usage or other clinical manifestations. Despite the fact that our patients were clinically asymptomatic and had normal pelvis radiography, sacroiliitis was found in 8 patients (25%). Bone scintigraphy is sensitive in the diagnosis of joint involvement allowing earlier diagnosis and showing the presence of articular involvement, especially in SI joints.
Sahin
Mehmet
M
Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, Süleyman Demirel University, Faculty of Medicine, Isparta, Turkey. mehmetsahin66@hotmail.com
Yildiz
Mustafa
M
Tunc
Sevket Ercan
SE
Cerci
Sureyya
S
Suslu
Harun
H
Cure
Erkan
E
Kutlucan
Ali
A
D000328:Adult; D001168:Arthritis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D001528:Behcet Syndrome / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D002358:Cartilage, Articular / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010007:Osteochondritis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013669:Technetium Tc 99m Medronate; D051598:Whole Body Imaging / Q000379:methods*
D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D013669:Technetium Tc 99m Medronate