A whole-body bone scan is a common clinical test that is used to screen for bone tumors.
A whole-body bone scan is a machine that injects a radioactive nuclide into the body and then checks the uptake of that nuclide to determine where abnormalities occur, and is generally used to check for bone metastases or systemic metastases from cancer cells.
Generally for patients with lung cancer as well as lymphoma and breast cancer, patients with these cancers are concerned about whether their tumor has metastasized, so whole-body bone imaging is used to rank whether the cancer has metastasized to other sites. If metastasis has occurred, bone tumors can cause localized pain and swelling and, in severe cases, fractures, so a whole-body scan is needed.
It is important to be aware that whole-body bone imaging is highly radioactive and that uninvolved persons and chaperones need to be excluded from the examination, and that patients need to be isolated for two days after the scan to allow the radiation to dissipate. The patient can be instructed to drink plenty of water during this period to promote faster metabolism of the radiation.