The impact of infection and inflammation in oncologic F-FDG PET/CT imaging.

Sites of infection and inflammation can be misleading in oncology PET/CT imaging because these areas commonly show F-FDG activity. Caution in the interpretation must be taken to avoid the misdiagnosis of malignancy. Utilization of both CT findings as well as patient history can help differentiate benign infectious and inflammatory processes from malignancy, although occasionally additional work-up may be required.

Effects of plasma glucose levels on regional cerebral 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose uptake: Implications for dementia evaluation with brain PET imaging.

Purpose: Hyperglycemia affects FDG uptake in the brain, potentially emulating Alzheimer's disease in normal individuals. This study investigates global and regional cerebral FDG uptake as a function of plasma glucose in a cohort of patients.

Methods: 120 consecutive male patients with FDG PET/CT for initial oncologic staging (July-Dec 2015) were reviewed.

Efficacy of radioactive iodine treatment of graves' hyperthyroidism using a single calculated I dose.

Objective: To evaluate the success rate of therapeutic administration of a single calculated I activity for eliminating hyperthyroidism due to Graves' disease.

Methods And Materials: Patients with Graves' hyperthyroidism underwent pinhole thyroid imaging, 24-h radioactive iodine uptake (RAIU) measurements and clinical examination and received a calculated I activity of 0.2 mCi per estimated gram of thyroid tissue, adjusted for the 24-h RAIU.

Synchronous Metastatic Breast Carcinoma and Parathyroid Adenoma on 18F-FDG PET/CT and 99mTc-Sestamibi Imaging.

In addition to nuclear cardiac and breast imaging, Tc-sestamibi scintigraphy is often used to localize parathyroid adenomas. F- fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET is heavily utilized in oncology, although its use in identifying parathyroid adenomas is limited. We describe a case of a 57-year-old woman who underwent parathyroid scintigraphy and F-FDG PET/CT in the same week due to hyperparathyroidism and an enlarging breast mass, respectively.

Nuclear Medicine Therapy With 223Radium-dichloride for Osseous Metastases in Prostate Carcinoma.

Painful osseous metastasis resulting from castration-resistant prostate carcinoma is a common clinical problem. Historically, nuclear medicine offered several palliative beta-emitting radiopharmaceuticals targeting the skeleton with the goal of decreasing pain. However, these have largely been replaced by the alpha-emitting agent 223radium (Ra).

Effects of Tumor Burden on Reference Tissue Standardized Uptake for PET Imaging: Modification of PERCIST Criteria.

Purpose To examine the effect metabolic burden (tumor and/or cardiac myocyte uptake) has on fluorine 18 fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) distribution in organs and tissues of interest. Materials and Methods Positron emission tomographic (PET)/computed tomographic (CT) scans at the Ann Arbor Veterans Affairs hospital from January to July 2015 were reviewed. A total of 107 scans (50 patients; mean age, 64.

Effect of hyperglycemia on brain and liver F-FDG standardized uptake value (FDG SUV) measured by quantitative positron emission tomography (PET) imaging.

Purpose: Blood glucose is routinely measured prior to F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) administration in positron emission tomography (PET) imaging to identify hyperglycemia that may affect image quality. In this study we explore the effects of blood glucose levels upon semi-quantitative standardized uptake value (SUV) measurements of target organs and tissues of interest and in particular address the relationship of blood glucose to FDG accumulation in the brain and liver.

Methods: 436 FDG PET/CT consecutive studies performed for oncology staging in 229 patients (226 male) at the Ann Arbor Veterans Administration Healthcare System were reviewed.

Contemporary imaging of incidentally discovered adrenal masses.

Adrenal lesions are routinely encountered incidentally in clinical practice. Although most of these lesions are benign, malignancy needs to be excluded. Therefore, the initial clinical workup is to exclude aggressive characteristics suggesting malignancy and to identify characteristics predictive of the most common benign lesion, an adrenal adenoma.

Frostbite: Spectrum of Imaging Findings and Guidelines for Management.

Frostbite is a localized cold thermal injury that results from tissue freezing. Frostbite injuries can have a substantial effect on long-term limb function and mobility if not promptly evaluated and treated. Imaging plays a critical role in initial evaluation of frostbite injuries and in monitoring response to treatment.

Endocrine radionuclide scintigraphy with fusion single photon emission computed tomography/computed tomography.

Aim: To review the benefits of single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT)/computed tomography (CT) hybrid imaging for diagnosis of various endocrine disorders.

Methods: We performed MEDLINE and PubMed searches using the terms: "SPECT/CT"; "functional anatomic mapping"; "transmission emission tomography"; "parathyroid adenoma"; "thyroid cancer"; "neuroendocrine tumor"; "adrenal"; "pheochromocytoma"; "paraganglioma"; in order to identify relevant articles published in English during the years 2003 to 2015. Reference lists from the articles were reviewed to identify additional pertinent articles.

Lingual Thyroid Ectopia: Diagnostic SPECT/CT Imaging and Radioactive Iodine Treatment.

Background: Lingual thyroid is a rare abnormality of thyroid development that is usually treated conservatively with levothyroxine replacement. Rarely, it becomes large enough to cause obstructive symptoms in the oral cavity, requiring definitive treatment.

Patient Findings: This study reports on three patients with lingual thyroid treated with radioactive iodine-131 ((131)I) with successful radioablation of their ectopic thyroid tissues.

Molecular Imaging in the Management of Adrenocortical Cancer: A Systematic Review.

Adrenocortical cancer (ACC) is an uncommon primary neoplasm of the adrenal cortex with dismal prognosis. It often presents with symptoms and signs of adrenal cortical hormone hypersecretion and abdominal mass effect or is incidentally detected as an adrenal mass on imaging performed for other indications. Endocrine evaluation, comprehensive staging, and meticulous resection are crucial to ensure the best possible outcome.

Use of radiopharmaceuticals in diagnostic nuclear medicine in the United States: 1960-2010.

To reconstruct reliable nuclear medicine-related occupational radiation doses or doses received as patients from radiopharmaceuticals over the last five decades, the authors assessed which radiopharmaceuticals were used in different time periods, their relative frequency of use, and typical values of the administered activity. This paper presents data on the changing patterns of clinical use of radiopharmaceuticals and documents the range of activity administered to adult patients undergoing diagnostic nuclear medicine procedures in the U.S.

Parathyroid adenoma localization with 99mTc-sestamibi SPECT/CT: a meta-analysis.

Purpose: The aim of the study was to determine the diagnostic utility of parathyroid scintigraphy with technetium-99m (99mTc)-sestamibi single-photon emission computed tomography/computed tomography (SPECT/CT) for localization of parathyroid adenoma.

Materials And Methods: We performed a systematic search of medical databases PubMed and Medline/OVID for literature on 99mTc-sestamibi SPECT/CT parathyroid scintigraphy, using the search terms hyperparathyroidism, parathyroid adenoma/hyperplasia, SPECT/CT, and SPECT-CT. Citations for 981 articles and 128 abstracts of full articles were reviewed by two coauthors for relevance.

Metabolic and anatomic characteristics of benign and malignant adrenal masses on positron emission tomography/computed tomography: a review of literature.

PET/CT with (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) or using different radiocompounds has proven accuracy for detection of adrenal metastases in patients undergoing cancer staging. It can assist the diagnostic work-up in oncology patients by identifying distant metastases to the adrenal(s) and defining oligometastatic disease that may benefit from targeted intervention. In patients with incidentally discovered adrenal nodules, so-called adrenal "incidentaloma" FDG PET/CT is emerging as a useful test to distinguish benign from malignant etiology.

Nuclear medicine practices in the 1950s through the mid-1970s and occupational radiation doses to technologists from diagnostic radioisotope procedures.

Data on occupational radiation exposure from nuclear medicine procedures for the time period of the 1950s through the 1970s is important for retrospective health risk studies of medical personnel who conducted those activities. However, limited information is available on occupational exposure received by physicians and technologists who performed nuclear medicine procedures during those years. To better understand and characterize historical radiation exposures to technologists, the authors collected information on nuclear medicine practices in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.

Endocrine scintigraphy with hybrid SPECT/CT.

Nuclear medicine imaging of endocrine disorders takes advantage of unique cellular properties of endocrine organs and tissues that can be depicted by targeted radiopharmaceuticals. Detailed functional maps of biodistributions of radiopharmaceutical uptake can be displayed in three-dimensional tomographic formats, using single photon emission computed tomography (CT) that can now be directly combined with simultaneously acquired cross-sectional anatomic maps derived from CT. The integration of function depicted by scintigraphy and anatomy with CT has synergistically improved the efficacy of nuclear medicine imaging across a broad spectrum of clinical applications, which include some of the oldest imaging studies of endocrine dysfunction.

SPECT/CT evaluation of unusual physiologic radioiodine biodistributions: pearls and pitfalls in image interpretation.

Radioiodine imaging has a well-established role in depicting metastatic disease after thyroidectomy in patients with well-differentiated thyroid cancer. Uptake of radioiodine in thyroid metastases depends on expression of sodium-iodide symporter (NIS) by tumor tissues. However, because radioiodine may also accumulate in normal structures and tissues, it is important to distinguish physiologic radioiodine activity from metastatic disease.

Preablation 131-I scans with SPECT/CT in postoperative thyroid cancer patients: what is the impact on staging?

Context: The utility of preablation radioiodine scans for the management of differentiated thyroid cancer remains controversial.

Objective: To determine the contribution of preablation Iodine 131 (131-I) planar with single-photon emission computed tomography/computed tomography (SPECT/CT; diagnostic [Dx] scans) to differentiated thyroid cancer staging.

Design: Prospective sequential series at university clinic.

How has the management of medullary thyroid carcinoma changed with the advent of 18F-FDG and non-18F-FDG PET radiopharmaceuticals.

Medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) arises from parafollicular C cells and is an elusive tumor to image. It occurs as a sporadic neoplasm in 70-80% of cases and is hereditary in 20-30% because of germline mutations of the rearranged during transfection proto-oncogene. Successful disease management relies on accurate staging.

Changes in global function and regional ventilation and perfusion on SPECT during the course of radiotherapy in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer.

Purpose: This study aimed to (1) examine changes in dyspnea, global pulmonary function test (PFT) results, and functional activity on ventilation (V)/perfusion (Q) single-photon emission computerized tomography (SPECT) scans during the course of radiation (RT), and (2) factors associated with the changes in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Methods And Materials: Fifty-six stage I to III NSCLC patients treated with definitive RT with or without chemotherapy were enrolled prospectively. Dyspnea was graded according to Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events version 3.

Fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography in primary thyroid lymphoma with coexisting lymphocytic thyroiditis.

Background: Primary thyroid lymphoma is an uncommon neoplasm frequently associated with lymphocytic thyroiditis (LT). Once the pathologic diagnosis of primary thyroid lymphoma is established, imaging plays an important role in tumor staging and evaluating treatment response. The present case discusses the role of fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (18F-FDG PET)/computed tomography (CT) in this clinical setting along with the potential diagnostic challenges.