Is 99m Tc-methylene diphosphonate bone scintigraphy a sensitive method for detecting bone lesions in multiple myeloma?

Background: bone lesion in multiple myeloma (mm) is most commonly presented as a lytic lesion in this disease. determination of extent of bone lesions in mm is necessary to follow-up the patients. whole body bone scan with 99m, tc-methylene diphosphonate (mdp) has a lower sensitivity than other modalities. methods: from the patients with mm admitted to ayatollah rouhani hospital of babol-iran from 2009 to 2015, who had undergone whole body bone scan during diagnostic process, were entered into the study. findings of bone scan were compared with mri.results: of the 19 patients, sixteen (84.2%) of them had positive finding in bone scan, fifteen (78.9%) had mri of the spine. while of the thirteen patients who had positive finding in mri, seven (53.8%) had more positive finding in thorcolumbosacral mri than in bone scan. conclusions: 99m-tc mdp bone scan is a sensitive but insufficient method for detecting bone lesions in mm.