Bone scintigraphy in preschool children with lower extremity pain of unknown origin.

Small children often cannot describe the location of bone pain for parents or physicians. Bone scans were performed in 56 children under five years of age with lower extremity pain and/or gait abnormalities of unknown etiology. Patients with fever, and those known to have infection, child abuse, malignancy, and/or radiographic abnormalities were excluded. Thirty patients had abnormal bone scans. Abnormalities included evidence of hip synovitis (4), femoral head avascularity (2), various proximal femoral abnormalities (3), knee synovitis (3), toddler's fracture (1), various tibial or fibular abnormalities (4), and various abnormalities of the tarsal bones (16). Tarsal bone abnormalities included four with abnormal calcaneal uptake and nine with abnormal uptake in or adjacent to the cuboid bone. Correlative imaging studies were available for 26 sites, and focal bone findings were noted at only five locations. Tarsal bone abnormalities accounted for over half of the scintigraphic abnormalities in these preschool children with gait abnormalities. Abnormal uptake in/or adjacent to the cuboid bone was common and probably represented stress injury.