My bone scan says there is mild generalized increased uptake in left ankle and mid foot and in 1st met. phalangeal areas. what does this mean?

Many possibilities: Bone scans show increased bone production activity. Possible causes could be fracture, infection, charcot, and bone tumor.

One must take into : Account the clinical exam and history when reading a bone scan. What was described may just be some arthritis and nothing more.

Why the bone scan: Bone scans are done to evaluate for bone tumors, bone metastasis , infection, and occult fractures such as stress fractures. The study will often be mildly abnormal with arthritis. Your results sound like arthritis, and should be compared to the x-rays of your feet and ankles.

Increase Stress: The mild uptake usually indicates that there is increased stress either from early arthritis or from increase pressure from overloading a particular joint such as your foot and ankle. It could be related to numerous reasons such as foot alignment. Stress fractures usually have a higher intensity of uptake.