Bone scintigraphy in the evaluation of children with obscure skeletal pain.

A retrospective analysis of bone scans of 381 children with unexplained skeletal pain was made. Of these, findings are reported on 358 for whom there were sufficient clinical data. The bone scan results suggested trauma as the cause of pain in 43 patients, inflammatory disease in 73 patients, and neoplasia in ten patients. There was only one false-positive bone scan. Normal findings were obtained from 227 patients, in whom no significant skeletal disease was detected on follow-up, except for juvenile rheumatoid arthritis in 23 patients. Bone scintigraphy is, therefore, an important, noninvasive diagnostic test for evaluating children with obscure bone or joint pain. We recommend that this test be performed early in the evaluation of these children to arrive at the diagnosis expeditiously and with minimal patient discomfort and morbidity.