Hyperostosis cranii. Radiography and scintigraphy compared.

The bone scintigrams of 52 women with radiographically proven hyperostosis cranii were examined specifically with regard to the endosteal lesions. It was confirmed that hyperostosis cranii exhibits a characteristic appearance at bone scintigraphy that is usually easy to recognize. By scoring the degree of hyperostotic changes and their scintigraphic activity according to a semiquantitative scale, an inverse relation between radiographic changes and scintigraphic activity was observed but could not be statistically proven. A tendency of more pronounced radiographic changes and a tendency of decreasing activity at bone scintigraphy with increasing age were also found. It is suggested that hyperostosis cranii starts in younger women and that the initial osseous turnover of the lesions is high. Successively, the metabolic activity decreases while the endosteal lesions increase, tending towards a stabilization of the process with increasing age.