Journal of nuclear medicine : official publication, Society of Nuclear Medicine
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In patients with gastroenteropancreatic (GEP) neuroendocrine tumors, we investigated the usefulness of somatostatin receptor scintigraphy (SRS) in the detection of liver metastasis, which represents the most important prognostic factor in these tumors, and in the management of affected patients. ⋯ (111)In-Pentetreotide SRS is a useful diagnostic tool in the detection of liver metastases in GEP tumor patients. In particular, SPECT proved to be significantly more sensitive and accurate than both planar imaging and CIP. Moreover, SPECT was also the most reliable procedure to obtain correct patient classification, thus guiding the most appropriate therapeutic strategy.
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Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Prospective comparison of 18F-FDG PET with conventional imaging modalities (MRI, CT, and 67Ga scintigraphy) in assessment of combined intraarterial chemotherapy and radiotherapy for head and neck carcinoma.
To preserve the oral organs and functions in patients with head and neck carcinoma, accurate determination of the appropriate treatment after neoadjuvant chemotherapy and radiotherapy is of critical importance. We evaluated the diagnostic accuracy of (18)F-FDG PET relative to that of other conventional imaging modalities in the assessment of therapeutic response after combined intraarterial chemotherapy and radiotherapy as an organ preservation protocol. ⋯ (18)F-FDG PET facilitates differentiation of residual tumors from treatment-related changes after chemoradiotherapy, which may be occasionally difficult to characterize by anatomic images. (18)F-FDG PET has a clinical impact for the management of patients with head and neck cancers after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy by optimizing surgical treatment for each patient and contributes to the improvement of the patient's quality of life.
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Lymphedema-edema that results from chronic lymphatic insufficiency-is a chronic debilitating disease that is frequently misdiagnosed, treated too late, or not treated at all. There are, however, effective therapies for lymphedema that can be implemented, particularly after the disorder is properly diagnosed and characterized with lymphoscintigraphy. ⋯ Effective use of lymphoscintigraphy to plan therapy requires an understanding of the pathophysiology of lymphedema and the influence of technical factors such as selection of the radiopharmaceutical, imaging times after injection, and patient activity after injection on the images. In addition to reviewing the anatomy and physiology of the lymphatic system, we review physiologic principles of lymphatic imaging with lymphoscintigraphy, discuss different qualitative and quantitative lymphoscintigraphic techniques and their clinical applications, and present clinical cases depicting typical lymphoscintigraphic findings.
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Comparative Study
Retrospective analysis of sentinel node localization in multifocal, multicentric, palpable, or nonpalpable breast cancer.
Multicentric or multifocal breast cancer is considered as one of the limitations for sentinel lymph node (SLN) localization. We did a retrospective analysis to evaluate the success rate, sensitivity, accuracy, and negative predictive values of SLN localization in multicentric or multifocal breast lesions. ⋯ The sentinel node localization approach showed a high negative predictive value in breast cancer patients with multifocal or multicentric lesions, contrary to the common belief of significant false-negative results in these patients.
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Diagnosis of pulmonary embolism (PE) by visual interpretation of ventilation/perfusion (V/Q) scans is limited by the high percentages of patients classified in the intermediate- and low-probability categories. This study proposes a quantitative analysis of the distribution of V/Q ratios to better identify patients with PE. ⋯ A quantitative approach to lung scan interpretation, based on the distribution histogram of V/Q ratios, may be helpful for categorizing patients with suspected PE.