Comparison of Technetium-99m Polyphosphate and Strontium-85 for Skeletal Imaging in Patients with Metastatic Disease

Abstract : Technetium-99M polyphosphate has been recently introduced to replace strontium-85 as a short-lived radiopharmaceutical for skeletal imaging. Bone scans have been obtained with both strontium-85 and technetium-99m, to compare their relative efficacy, in a series of patients with known malignant disease. When possible, the same instrumentation was utilized with both radiopharmaceuticals in each patient. Data on approximately 75 patients indicate that the technetium-99m polyphosphate bone scans will detect a greater number of lesions than strontium-85, in approximately 20 percent of the patients. Other advantages of technetium-99m polyphosphate include: a greatly increased counting rate with shorter scanning time, the ability to image in the day of administration of the dose, suitability for imaging by greatly increased counting rate with shorter scanning time, the ability to image in the day of administration of the dose, suitability for imaging by either camera or scanner, absence of colon activity, and a greatly diminished radiation exposure to the patient. It is evident that technetium-99m polyphosphate is definitely superior to strontium-85 as a bone scanning agent.