ISSN: 2689-8020
Authors: Sanae El Mselmi*, Fabrice Fokoué, Nadia Abaouz and Nadia Ismaili Alaoui
Introduction: Osteoarticular infection is a particularly common pathology in children. The diagnosis is sometimes difficult especially in front of a poor symptomatology and a little disturbed biological assessment. The aim of this work is to assess the contribution of bone scintigraphy in the diagnosis of osteoarticular infections in children. Patients and Method: This is a retrospective study spread out between December 2012 and February 2019, involving children referred to the nuclear medicine department of Hassan II University Hospital Center of Fez for suspected osteoarticular infection. All the children benefited from a bone scan with a triple phase acquisition followed by a study of the entire bone skeleton, after an IV injection of 10 MBq /Kg of MDP-Tc99m. Results: We selected 31 children. The average age was 9.43 years old with a male predominance. The clinical signs mainly found in our patients were fever, bone pain and functional impairment of the affected limb. The main location was the lower limb (74.2%). Bone scan was positive in 70.9% of patients, including 9 cases of septic arthritis, 7 cases of osteomyelitis, 4 cases of sacroiliitis and one case of lumbar spondylodiscitis. Conclusions: Three-phases bone scintigraphy protocole with MDP-Tc99m completed with a whole body bone scan should remain the examination of choice in osteoarticular infections in children. This exam makes it possible to retain an accurate diagnosis in an early stage of OAI while the other medical imaging modalities exams being negative. Thus allowing to prevent severe complications with an affordable financial cost and an acceptable irradiation rate.
Keywords: Osteomyelitis; Osteoarthritis; Children; Three Phase Bone Scintigraphy
