Explain what a bone scan is and what it is used for.
Skeletal Scintigraphy (Bone Scan) Why It Is Done. A bone scan is done to: 1  Find bone cancer or determine whether cancer from another area, such as the breast, lung, kidney, thyroid gland, or prostate gland, has spread (metastasized) to the bone. 2  Help diagnose the cause or location of unexplained bone pain, such as ongoing low back pain. bone scan can often find a problem days to months earlier than a regular X-ray test. During a bone scan, a radioactive substance called a tracer is injected into a vein in your arm. The tracer travels through your bloodstream and into your bones. Then a special camera takes pictures of the tracer in your bones. - A bone scan is used to examine the bones for damage caused by cancer or another disease. It is a nuclear medicine test, which means that a very small amount of a radioactive substance is used during the procedure.he scan helps find cancer that started in the bones, as well as cancer that metastasized (spread) to the bone from other parts of the body. Bone scans are also used to monitor how cancer in the bone is responding to treatment.