Significance of bone scintigraphy in symptomatic spondylolysis

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Lowe J. Schachner E. Hirschberg E. Shapiro Y. Libson E. Spine. 9(6):653-5, 1984 Sep. In a prospective study, the authors evaluated the usefulness of bone scintigraphy in the work-up of young military personnel with lumbar spondylolysis and persistent low back pain. Ten out of 23 spondylolytic individuals with a recent history of low back pain had positive scintigrams, and none of a group of painless spondylolytic individuals had positive scans. We believe these results indicate that bone scintigraphy is of value in determining whether a spondylolysis in a young individual can be attributed to recent physical exertion or a specific recent traumatic incident.