The futility of bone scanning in neonatal osteomyelitis: concise communication.

Twenty-one neonates suspected of having acute osteomyelitis were studied by technetium-99m phosphate radiopharmaceuticals. Of the ten infants subsequently proven to have osteomyelitis involving 20 sites in all, only sis sites (31.5%) were abnormal by bone imaging. Fifty-eight percent were normal and 10.5% equivocal. These poor results are contrary to the high accuracy rate achieved in slightly older infants; they negate the ability of the bone scan to diagnose neonatal osteomyelitis.