Bone scan appearance of renal osteodystrophy in diabetic chronic renal failure patients.

To investigate Tc-99m methylenediphosphonate (MDP) bone scan appearance in diabetic chronic renal failure patients, we compared the bone scan images of chronic renal failure patients with and without diabetes. The number of patients studied was 134, of whom 43 had diabetes. Two nuclear medicine physicians read Tc-99m MDP bone scan images and for six areas - the axial skeleton, long bone, skull and mandible, periarticular areas, costochondral junction, and sternum - assigned a score of either 1 or 0. The sums of scores were compared. We also performed multivariate analysis including sex, age, and serum creatinine level using analysis of covariance. DM group patients scored significantly lower (2.01+/-0.95) than those of the non-DM group (3.26+/-1.16). Analysis of covariance revealed that the lower DM group score was independent of sex, age, and serum creatinine level. The bone scans of diabetic chronic renal failure patients showed less Tc-99m MDP uptake than those of non-diabetic patients. Thus, diagnosing renal osteodystrophy in diabetic chronic renal failure patients on bone scan images could be difficult.