This case is about a 78 year old lady who had 3TKRs on her left knee. The 2nd revision surgery was performed due to infection. After 6 weeks long procedure, the patient was discharged with satisfactory movement without sign of infection.
15 months after the surgery, the orthopaedic surgeon found that some pressure wave effects and pain with walking. There was no sign of infection clinically. Once X-ray could not confirm any micro-loosening, the surgeon wanted to investigate with radionuclide arthrogram for this difficult case. 40 MBq in 2mls of Calcium phytate colloid (from RADPHARM Australia) was injected into the knee joint space. 30 minutes static views revealed the tracer started to travel below the tibial component. 4 hours statics views clearly indicate the tibial component loosening also there was leackage of tracer through anterior tibial osteotomy screws into the level of ankle subcutaneously. Cobalt57 flood images provided the anatomical localisation. While the surgeon was planning new component for the 3rd revision surgery, the patient's pain disappeared with time. No more revision was considered with satisfactory level of movement.

This was the first and only case of radio arthrogram to our department, although we perform many bone scans with same reason. On published articles, overall sensitivity and specificity are variable from 85% to 100%. When we take look at other clinical experience, there are a number of reasons in the high accuracy and reliability of radionuclide arthrogram especially for knee prosthesis loosening.
Therefore I want to emphasise the benefit of radionuclide arthrogram for both patient and surgeon as a reliable diagnosis with minimum discomfort.