Technical note: bone SPECT of the wrist.

A technique for single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) during bone scintigraphy of the wrist is described. The technique has been developed as a means to improve localization of abnormalities observed on 99Tcm-MDP planar bone scintigraphy. A wrist phantom and 15 wrists in 13 symptomatic patients were examined. Good spatial detail was achieved, with the pisiform readily identifiable as a separate bone in six wrists. In seven cases the tomograms permitted better localization of planar image abnormalities and in four cases additional lesions were visible which were missed on planar scintigraphy. This technique can be applied to all patients with suspected carpal injury and allows better anatomical localization and greater sensitivity than planar scintigraphy alone.