REVIEWS  DIABETES: UN UPDATE 

Minerva Endocrinologica 2009 September;34(3):237-54

Copyright © 2009 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Diabetes and bone: advantages and limitations of radiological, radionuclide and hybrid techniques in the assessment of diabetic foot

Gnanasegaran G. ¹, Chicklore S. ¹, Vijayanathan S. ², O’Doherty M. J. ¹, Fogelman I. ¹ ✉

¹ Department of Nuclear Medicine, Guys & St Thomas’ Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Hospital, London, UK; ² Department of Radiology, Guys & St Thomas’ Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Hospital, London, UK

A common cause of morbidity and mortality in diabetic patients are foot infection/complications often leading to amputation of lower extremities. Various radiological and radionuclide techniques are available for the assessment of diabetic patients with bone or soft tissue infections. However, there are several advantages and limitations. The major limitation of all these techniques is their inability to accurately differentiate osteomyelitis from charcot’s/neuropathic joints. Radiologically, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the technique of choice and a radiolobeled white cell scan is a useful nuclear medicine technique in the evaluation of diabetic patients with suspected foot infection. In this review we discuss the efficacy of radiological and radionuclide techniques in the assessment of diabetic foot infection.