Complex Regional Pain Syndrome Diagnostic Tests
Bone Scans
Bone scanning is best for demonstrating bone-based disease and clarifying neurological lesions found by x-rays. This is accomplished by measuring the blood flow through the skeleton. (7)
Bone scanning, used for CRPS since the mid-1970s, tells only of significant changes that occur during the subacute period, during the first year (8). This test is often used to differentiate CRPS from other causes of pain (9). The three-phase bone scan, which uses immediate and delayed images to study blood flow, is especially useful to CRPS study. These scans show increased blood flow into the CRPS-affected area with an increase in diffuse activity during the “blood pool phase” described below (3).
The patient lies on a table while a gamma camera circles his or her body, taking images as the scan progresses (7). A radioactive tracer is injected into the patient that concentrates in the bones. A technician takes images of the body area in question during the initial phase of “blood flow,” then again when the blood “pools” in the area (8). Two hours later, images will show the tracer in the actual bones during the “delayed phase.”
<Back
Updated December 20, 2007 |
