Hell J Nucl Med
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Nearly 19.9 million cases and more than 730 thousand disease-related deaths have been confirmed in the months that followed WHO's assessment that the novel coronavirus COVID-19, first emerged in Wuhan China on December 2019, could be characterized as a pandemic. The aforementioned coronavirus affected 188 countries as of 8.10.2020. Despite the continually increasing number of COVID-19 cases reported to CDC, at national level, the percentage of visits to outpatient providers and emergency departments has decreased and mortality rates attributed to COVID-19 have declined compared to the previous weeks, still above the baseline. ⋯ This way, health systems will be equipped with better and faster protocols and best practices in order to manage efficiently any other pandemic that might emerge in the future. In this context, Nuclear Medicine departments should reconsider and update their practices, by altering routines and workflows in order to comply with the new sanitary standards, triaging their appointments, or introducing new diagnostic methods like Tele-Medicine / Tele Nuclear Medicine and Artificial Intelligence applications. This special edition of Hellenic Journal of Nuclear Medicine has as its main purpose to introduce and communicate those new practices and protocols/standard operating procedures, in order for the scientific community, health public institutions, affected individuals and their families to be duly informed.
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The coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic is the defining global health crisis of our time. Health care systems globally are amid an unprecedented challenge. Since its emergence in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, the virus has spread to 185 countries worldwide, with more than 2.63 million cases confirmed and more than 183 thousand related deaths (as of 23/04/2020). ⋯ The interim Editor in Chief of the current issue, would like to express her gratitude to Professor Emeritus Philip Grammaticos for his contribution to the global scientific community as well as to the incoming Editor in Chief Konstantinos Anagnostopoulos, MD, PhD, FRCP, FESC for accepting this new role. We wholeheartedly welcome the new Editor in Chief and the new members of the Editorial Board, wishing them an active, attentive and successful mandate. Hellenic Journal of Nuclear Medicine will remain true to the set principles, values and past and prepared to cope with future challenges in the scientific and clinical setting.
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Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most common solid cancer affecting men worldwide. Serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is at present the most commonly used biomarker for PCa screening, as well as a reliable marker of disease recurrence after initial treatment. Bone metastases (BM) are present in advanced stages of the disease. ⋯ So, 18 F-PSMA-1007 PET/CT imaging seems to be very promising in staging and restaging patients with PCa, especially when biochemical relapse is under consideration. Although it seems to perform better than other imaging modalities like bone scan, 18 F-FDG PET/CT or 18 F-choline PET/CT, its high cost and low availability must be considered. Further large studies need to be conducted in order to evaluate the accuracy and the predictive values of this method, emphasizing on bone metastases.
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The Hellenic Journal of Nuclear Medicine is about to celebrate its 20th anniversary end of 2017. On board of the editorial team since 2003, this journal has influenced me like a good friend over the many past years. From time to time, the journal has published interesting and valuable historical notes. ⋯ Laios, M. Zozoglou. 2017; 20(1): Ahead of print. And hopefully many more to follow!
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Editorial Case Reports
Is it practical and cost effective to detect differentiated thyroid carcinoma metastases by (18)F-FDG PET/CT, by (18)F-FDG SPET/CT or by (131)I SPET/CT?
Fluorine-18-labeled 2-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose positron emission tomography/computerized tomography ((18)F-FDG PET/CT) plays an important role in detecting differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC) metastases with elevated thyroglobulin (Tg) and negative radioiodine ((131)I) uptake. In conclusion, (18)F-FDG PET/CT may fail to detect all DTC metastases, while (131)I WBS combined with (131)I SPET/CT may be a better cheaper and diagnostic tool as suggested by the case we presented here. Positive metastases in both (131)I and (18)F-FDG SPET/CT may indicate worse prognosis. Future research may add more evidence as to which is the best diagnostic imaging modality and relate it to the molecular mechanism of the uptake of the radionuclide used.