Is a bone scan useful to diagnose childhood leukemia?

No: Diagnose will be made by getting specific blood work and ultimately a bone marrow aspirate and biopsy. Bone scan will not be useful to diagnose leukemia.

Bone Marrow Biopsy: Excellent question. I understand why you ask. Bone scan is a test to look at conditions that affect the hard outer part of the bones. The bone marrow, the inner middle soft part of the bone is where white and red blood cells along with platelets are made. These are the cells that are affected by leukemia. Therefore, a bone marrow biopsy has to penetrate the bone to reach the marrow for sampling.

Typically not.: A bone scan will rarely show an abnormality related to leukemia, but it is not considered accurate for making a diagnosis.