Visualization of metastatic liver disease on technetium-99m bone scintigraphy.

To determine the frequency with which liver metastases are visualized on bone scintigraphy, 425 pairs of liver and bone scans, performed within one month of each other, were reviewed. Sixty-three of the 425 liver scans showed metastases. Of these 63, five cases of carcinoma of the colon and six cases of carcinoma of the lung also visualized by Tc-99m MDP scintigraphy. This represented 46% of colon metastases and 15% of lung metastases detected on liver scan. Liver metastases from other primary tumors were not detected on bone scan, but the numbers for these tumors were small. The liver metastases which were detected on bone scan were significantly larger than those which were not. The literature was reviewed and the primary and secondary tumors of liver with uptake of Tc-99m phosphate compounds listed.