Bone superscan in initial staging of gastric adenocarcinoma

Articles in Press

Document Type : Case Report

Authors

Nuclear Medicine Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

10.22034/irjnm.2025.130077.1690

Abstract

A 37-year-old woman presented with dyspepsia, bone pain, and significant weight loss. Endoscopy revealed an infiltrative gastric body mass, and histology confirmed signet ring cell gastric adenocarcinoma. A contrast-enhanced CT scan showed peritoneal carcinomatosis and multiple lytic-sclerotic skeletal metastases. A whole-body Technetium-99m methylene diphosphonate ([99mTc]Tc-MDP) scan revealed a "superscan" pattern, characteristic of widespread bone metastases. While bone scintigraphy is sensitive for detecting osteoblastic metastases, the superscan pattern can be mistaken for a normal scan, particularly in gastric cancer patients where it's an uncommon finding. Our brief review of the literature illustrates this infrequently observed phenomenon may occasionally occur in gastric cancer, especially in symptomatic patients.

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References

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Iranian Journal of Nuclear Medicine

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 27 December 2025

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