A tomographic imaging direction, frontwards relative to a short axis of the human body from the back to the front.

See also Anterior Posterior, Left Anterior Oblique, Right Anterior Oblique, Annotation, Antegrade.

A tomographic imaging direction, backwards relative to a short axis of the human body from the front to the back.

Left anterior oblique is an oblique (usually 45 degrees) position adjacent to the left side.

(RAO) Right anterior oblique is a direction, lying close to the right diagonal.

A bone scan or bone scintigraphy is used to in evaluate diseases of the skeletal system. Scintigraphic whole body bone imaging is a highly sensitive method to show changes in bone metabolism. Increased metabolic activity is seen as a hot spot.
The study requires the injection of a 99mTc-labeled radiopharmaceutical (most commonly methylene diphosphonate (MDP), hydroxymethylene diphosphonate (HMDP) or hydroxyethylene diphosphonate (HDP)). The activity administered for bone scanning is around 500 MBq (300-1100 MBq, 8-30 mCi), depending on age and weight of the patient. After 2-5 hours, the emitted gamma rays are detected by gamma cameras. The produced planar images include anterior and posterior views of the skeleton.
Multiphase bone scintigraphy is used to differentiate a bone process from tissue pathology. In some cases additional SPECT imaging is helpful to better characterize the presence, location and extent of disease.