Prospective evaluation of sacroiliac scintigraphy in chronic inflammatory back pain

✍ Scribed by John M. Esdaile; Leonard Rosenthall; Robert Terkeltaub; Reinhard Kloiber

• Book ID: 102750018
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1980
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 538 KB
• Volume: 23
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0004-3591
• DOI: 10.1002/art.1780230906

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

To assess the usefulness in screening for sacroiliitis of a wide band profile cut which included the entire sacroiliac (SI) joint, 34 patients with chronic inflammatory back pain (IBP) underwent sacroiliac joint scintigraphy with ^99m^Tc‐methylene diphosphonate while receiving no antiinflammatory therapy. The sacroiliac joint to sacrum (SIJ/S) ratios in those with back pain differed significantly from the ratios of an age‐matched control group. However, 12 of the 34 patients with inflammatory back pain had normal or equivocal sacroiliac radiographs and 4 of 12 had normal SIJ/S ratios. All 4 were HLA‐B27 positive, had diminished lumbar movement, and required antiinflammatory medication; 2 had diminished chest expansion; 1 has developed iritis. We conclude that this technique is not a reliable screening procedure. Therapy with antiinflammatory drugs was associated with a significant decrease in the SIJ/S ratios in 19 of the 34 who were reimaged.