Disphosphonate dynamic imaging of experimental bone grafts and soft tissue injury

Bone imaging provides two significant advantages over previously available methods for assessing bone processes. First, as scanning is non-invasive, it offers the operator the ability to sequentially follow any area of bone without altering it as would a biopsy. The second advantage is the ability of bone imaging to provide current information about the bone being scanned rather than having to deal with the delay that is inherent in conventional radiography. Recent developments in radiopharmaceuticals and instrumentation have made bone imaging a potentially practical clinical tool for the detection and assessment of benign as well as malignant processes affecting bone. This paper presents the results of the use of technetium 99m diphosphonate bone imaging in experimental canine mandibular autografts and surgical soft tissue injury. The implication of these results for the clinical situation will be discussed.