Metastatic superscan on (99m)Tc-methylene diphosphonate bone scintigraphy in pediatric neuroblastoma

Indian J Nucl Med. 2015 Jul-Sep;30(3):286-7. doi: 10.4103/0972-3919.158552.

Abstract

Excessive skeletal radioisotope uptake in relation to soft tissues along with absent or faint activity in the genitourinary tract on bone scintigraphy (BS) is known as a "superscan." However the association of pediatric solid tumor malignancy with metastatic superscan has not been reported previously. We here describe two such cases of neuroblastoma who presented with metastatic superscan on (99m)Tc-methylene diphosphonate BS. Presence of a superscan usually indicates an advanced stage of the disease. The patient prognosis is usually poor. Though extremely rare superscan can be associated with pediatric solid tumor malignancies and should be kept in mind while reporting such cases.

Keywords: 99mTc-methylene diphosphonate; bone scintigraphy; metastatic; neuroblastoma; pediatric; superscan.