Bone Scan: How It Is Done

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How It Is Done

A bone scan is usually done by a nuclear medicine technologist. The scan pictures are usually interpreted by a radiologist or nuclear medicine specialist.

You will need to remove any jewelry that might interfere with the scan. You may need to take off all or most of your clothes, depending on which area is being examined (you may be allowed to keep on your underwear if it does not interfere with the test). You will be given a cloth or paper covering to use during the test.

The technologist cleans the site on your arm where the radioactive tracer will be injected. A small amount of the radioactive tracer is then injected.

It takes about 2 to 5 hours for the tracer to bind to your bone so that pictures can be taken with the gamma camera. During this time you may be asked to drink 4 to 6 glasses of water to help eliminate in your urine any of the radioactive substance that does not collect in your bones. Just before the scan begins, you will usually be asked to empty your bladder to prevent any radioactive urine from blocking the view of your pelvic bones during the scan.

You will lie on your back on a table and a large scanning camera will be positioned closely above you. It may move slowly above and around your body, scanning for radiation released by the tracer and producing pictures as the tracer moves into your bones. The camera does not produce any radiation, so you are not exposed to any additional radiation while the scan is being done.

You may be asked to move into different positions so the area of interest can be viewed from other angles. You need to lie very still during each scan to avoid blurring the pictures.

A bone scan takes about 1 hour.

Last updated:	October 24, 2008
Author:	Maria G. Essig, MS, ELS
Reviewed By:	Kathleen Romito, MD - Family Medicine, Myo Min Han, MD - Nuclear Medicine
Editors:	Susan Van Houten, RN, BSN, MBA, Tracy Landauer