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- Healthy Bones
Question
16 Aug 2010
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Bone Scan
My mother is 67 with breast cancer, must go for a bone scan. How do they do the scan and what are they looking at? The note on the docters form " staging for metastase????"
Healthy Bones
Hi Mara
The oncologist is sending her for a radio-isotope bone scan- they inject her with contrast (iodine-based), wait an hour or two and then put her in a machine where the isotope's uptake in the bones are measured. The reason for this is that they are looking for bone metastases - this is when the cancer spreads from the breast to the bone. If it is present, they determine what type of therapy to give her.
The oncologist is sending her for a radio-isotope bone scan- they inject her with contrast (iodine-based), wait an hour or two and then put her in a machine where the isotope's uptake in the bones are measured. The reason for this is that they are looking for bone metastases - this is when the cancer spreads from the breast to the bone. If it is present, they determine what type of therapy to give her.
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