Comparison of diagnostic significance of bone and bone marrow scintigraphy in patients with Hodgkin disease

Diagnosis of skeletal tumors in patients with Hodgkin's disease is of paramount importance for precise staging of tumor process, prognosis and choice of optimal treatment. At present, according to the International Union Against Cancer (UICC), scintigraphy of bones and bone marrow is not regarded as a standard examination procedure for this pathology. We believe, however, that the sensitivity, specificity and overall accuracy of this procedure for bone marrow examination are 91.4; 94.8 and 92.9%, while those of osteoscintigraphy--49.1; 97 and 80.6%, respectively. According to our statistics (based on chi-square-test), the sensitivity and overall accuracy of osteoscintigraphy were significantly lower (p < 0.05) than those of bone marrow scintigraphy. The specificity (100%) of bone marrow trepanobiopsy is beyond doubt. However its sensitivity (36%) and overall accuracy (70.7%) were significantly lower (p < 0.05) than those of bone marrow scintigraphy (based on chi-square-test). Therefore, since the results of bone marrow scintigraphy are comparable to those of MRT which, like bone marrow trepanobiopsy, is a component of the diagnostic standard procedure approved by the UICC, bone marrow scintigraphy should be recommended for assaying the extent of involvement in Hodgkin's disease.