The radionuclide bone scan is becoming increasingly useful for evaluating a wide variety of bone and joint disorders. However, the commonest application is still the detection of skeletal metastases in the patient with known or suspected neoplastic disease. The role of this examination relative to other well established methods of evaluating these patients, especially the radiographic skeletal survey, is not clear to all physicians. We hope in this communication to define the role of the radionuclide bone scan and to place in perspective the integral relationship between the scan and the survey, the two radiologic modalities which today are the principal methods of evaluating the skeletal system for metastatic disease
