Diagnosis of chronic and postoperative osteomyelitis with gallium 67 citrate scans

The effectiveness of gallium 67 citrate in diagnosing the exacerbations of chronic osteomyelitis or postoperative osteomyelitis secondary to open reduction of fractures was tested in thirteen patients. This isotope demonstrated an area of infection in every case in which such an area existed. The control subjects consisted of patients with noninfected wounds after open reduction. In this group, gallium was not incorporated into the postoperative hematoma. No false-negative results were observed in our series, demonstrating that this element is useful in the early diagnosis of bone infections.