The Value of Bone Scintigraphy in the Vertebral Osteoporosis Follow-up of

Summary In an open study, we have assessed the bone/soft tissue uptake index in recent osteoporotic vertebral collapse using scintigraphy. The evolution of these cases was followed-up at 6 months in 22 patients treated with 100 IU of salmon calcitonin plus 500 mg of elemental calcium/10 days per month and in 18 patients treated with 500 mg of elemental calcium only on a daily basis. There were no index differences between groups prior to treatment. At six months, the group treated with calcitonin plus calcium showed a significant decrease from 10.2__ 6.4 to 3.2 __ 1.1 (p<0.001), while the calcium only group did not show any significant changes (12.1 __ 6.6 vs 9.2 _+ 4.6), considering that there were significant differences between groups (p<0.001). On a mid-term basis, these results have shown the values of the bone/soft tissue index in the follow-up of osteoporotic vertebral collapse.