Valor prognóstico dos achados focais na cintilografia óssea em pacientes suspeitos de fratura por estresse na tíbia

To investigate the correlation between tracer uptake on bone scintigraphy and recovery time in patients with tibial stress fracture.We evaluated two groups of athletes: those with clinical suspicion and a radiological diagnosis of tibial stress fracture (TSF group, n = 21); and those with no symptoms or evidence of fracture (control group, n = 10). All subjects underwent bone scintigraphy and magnetic resonance imaging with a maximum interval of 7 days between the assessments.Using the region of interest technique, we obtained a quantitative evaluation index, comparing affected and unaffected legs. The mean uptake of 99mTc-MDP was significantly higher in the TSF group than in the control group (2.54 ± 0.77 vs. 1.05 ± 0.11; p < 0.001).In our sample of athletes, determining the bone scintigraphy uptake indices provided an objective method to estimate the appropriate recovery time after a tibial stress fracture.