Table 2.

Advantages and disadvantages of the study types. The table includes also the relative frequency of the described method, when compared to the other ones.

Method	Advantages	Disadvantages	Relative Frequency
Neural network analysis applied to planar bone scan	-Wide diffusion of bone scan -Ease of use -Reproducibility -Prompt readability	-Overlap artifacts -Lack of specificity -Frequent need for manual corrections -Need for local databases -“Flare” responses	Common (prevalent diffusion of bone scan)
PET-based thresholding	-Relatively easy and prompt application -3D volume definition -High specificity using co-registered CT	-Need for threshold recalibration -Need for active exclusion of non-bone and non-tumor uptakes	Uncommon
Hybrid CT- and PET/SPECT-based thresholding	-High accuracy thanks to dual segmentation -High information output suitable for ‘big data’ research applications	-Computationally intensive -Long elaboration times -Not yet validated for clinical practice	Rare (presently only research application)
MR-based and other non-isotopic methods	-Excellent lesion-to-background contrast -No radiation burden to the patient and to the general population	-Whole-body MRI still not diffusely utilized -Need for long acquisition and elaboration time	Rare (presently only research application)