Nuclear Medicine Communications

OBJECTIVE: iRENEX is a software module that incorporates scintigraphic and clinical data to interpret 99mTc- mercaptoacetyltriglycine (MAG3) diuretic studies and provide reasons for their conclusions. Our objectives were to compare iRENEX interpretations with those of expert physicians, use iRENEX to evaluate resident performance and determine if iRENEX could improve the diagnostic accuracy of experienced residents. METHODS: Baseline and furosemide 99mTc-MAG3 acquisitions of 50 patients with suspected obstruction (mean age ± SD, 58...

AIM OF WORK: To determine the predictive value of initial [18F]FDG PET/computed tomography (CT) volumetric and radiomics-derived analyses in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). METHODS: Forty-six adult patients had pathologically proven HNSCC and underwent pretherapy [18F]FDG PET/CT were enrolled. Semi-quantitative PET-derived volumetric [(maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) and mean SUV (SUVmean), total lesion glycolysis (TLG) and metabolic tumor volume (MTV)] and radiomics analyses using LIFEx 6...

BACKGROUND: Evaluation of left atrium (LA) remodeling is becoming increasingly relevant in understanding several pathological cardiac conditions. 18F-FDG-PET/computed tomography (CT), the current gold standard for metabolic evaluation of the left ventricle, could be extended to LA using the latest PET technologies. We sought to perform a phantom study to optimize the reconstruction algorithm in this context. METHODS: The liver, heart cavity and walls of an anthropomorphic phantom were filled with typical patient 18F-FDG activity concentrations...

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to evaluate the prognostic role of Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) 1.1 and quantitative 68Ga-DOTATATE PET/computed tomography parameters such as maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax), mean SUV (SUVmean), DOTATATE tumor volume (DTV), total lesion DOTATATE (TLD) in patients with gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NETs) treated with 177Lu-DOTATATE. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Our retrospective study included 21 patients with GEP-NETs treated with 177Lu-DOTATATE between January 2017 and January 2022...

OBJECTIVES: Intra-arterial radionuclide therapy (IART) treatment allows direct delivery of 177Lu-DOTATATE to the overexpressed somatostatin-positive neuroendocrine liver metastases, which led to higher tumour concentration compared with systemic radionuclide therapy (SRT). The aim was to evaluate and compare the absorbed doses of both IART and SRT to organs and hepatic metastatic sites. METHODS A: total of 48 patients received SRT and IART. In SRT, activity was administered intravenously, whereas in IART, activity was administered directly into hepatic arteries...

PURPOSE: To assess the characteristics of fibrotic-foci-like lung adenocarcinoma on 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose PET/computed tomography (18F-FDG PET/CT) and high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT). MATERIAL AND METHODS: This was a retrospective study with 20 cases in the fibrotic-foci-like lung adenocarcinoma group; the control group was old fibrotic-foci of the lung with 20 cases. The following 18F-FDG PET/CT and HRCT features were evaluated: the maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax); the tumor-to-background ratios of SUVmax (TBRmax); the long-to-short diameter ratio (L/S); anatomic location; location type; internal characteristics; marginal characteristics and surrounding structures...

OBJECTIVE: Since the end of 2019, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) virus has infected millions of people, of whom a significant group suffers from sequelae from COVID-19, termed long COVID. As more and more patients emerge with long COVID who have symptoms of fatigue, myalgia and joint pain, we must examine potential biomarkers to find quantifiable parameters to define the underlying mechanisms and enable response monitoring. The aim of this study is to investigate the potential added value of [18F]FDG-PET/computed tomography (CT) for this group of long COVID patients...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

OBJECTIVE: Impaired lung function is associated with an increased risk for cognitive decline. F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET is a well-known neurodegenerative biomarker for dementia. We investigated the association between lung and brain function using FDG PET in patients with lung cancer. METHODS: A random sub-sample of 102 patients with lung cancer and without a self-reported history of neuropsychiatric disorders were recruited and underwent both lung function tests and FDG PET scans before treatment...

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to determine the optimal β value for clinical use in digital 68Ga-prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA-11) PET/computed tomography (CT) imaging. METHODS: 68Ga PSMA PET/CT of 21 patients with prostate cancer were reconstructed using block-sequential regularized expectation maximization (β value of 400-1600) and ordered subsets expectation maximization. Nine independent blinded readers evaluated each reconstruction for overall image quality, noise level and lesion detectability...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

OBJECTIVE: [ 18 F]FE-PE2I (FE-PE2I) is a new radiotracer for dopamine transporter (DAT) imaging with PET. The aim of this study was to evaluate the visual interpretation of FE-PE2I images for the diagnosis of idiopathic Parkinsonian syndrome (IPS). The inter-rater variability, sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic accuracy for visual interpretation of striatal FE-PE2I compared to [ 123 I]FP-CIT (FP-CIT) single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) was evaluated. METHODS: Thirty patients with newly onset parkinsonism and 32 healthy controls with both an FE-PE2I and FP-CIT were included in the study...

OBJECTIVE: Bone is considered as the third most common site of metastases, besides lung and liver. Early detection of skeletal metastases aids in better management of skeletal-related events. In the present study cold kit-based 2,2',2''-(10-(2-((diphosphonomethyl)amino)-2-oxoethyl)-1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane-1,4,7-triyl) triacetic acid (BPAMD) was labeled with 68Ga. The radiolabeling parameters and clinical evaluation in patients with suspected bone metastases were compared with routinely used 99mTc-methylenediphosphonate (99mTc-MDP)...

PURPOSE: Rarely, well-differentiated gastro-entero-pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP NETs) can have positive uptake on 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose-PET/computerized tomography (18F-FDG-PET/CT), with or without a positive 68Ga-PET/CT. We aim to evaluate the diagnostic role of 18F-FDG-PET/CT in patients with well-differentiated GEP NETs. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed a chart of patients diagnosed with GEP NETs between 2014 and 2021, at the American University of Beirut Medical Center, who have low (G1; Ki-67 ≤2) or intermediate (G2; and Ki-67 >2-≤20) well-differentiated tumors with positive findings on FDG-PET/CT...

OBJECTIVES: Point spread function (PSF) correction and time-of-flight (TOF) can improve the quality of PET images. None have directly assessed the visual effects of these methods in brain PET images and evaluated the image quality from these methods based on the relationship between the number of updates and noise level. The present study aimed to clarify the effects of PSF and TOF on the visual contrast level and pixel values of brain PET images using an experimental phantom. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The visual contrast level was evaluated based on the sum of edge strengths...

AIM: VARSKIN provides a convenient way of calculating skin dose from predefined geometries but the models are limited to concentric shapes such as discs, cylinders and point sources. The aim of this article is to use the Geant4 Monte Carlo code to independently compare the cylindrical geometries available in VARSKIN to a more realistic droplet models obtained from photography. It may then be possible to recommend an appropriate cylinder model that can be used to represent a droplet within acceptable accuracy...

PURPOSE: Improvements in molecular breast imaging (MBI) have increased the use of MBI as adjunct diagnostic modality and alternative to MRI. We aimed to assess the value of MBI in patients with equivocal breast lesions on conventional imaging, especially in terms of its ability to rule out malignancy. METHODS: We selected patients who underwent MBI in addition to conventional diagnostics due to equivocal breast lesions between 2012 and 2015. All patients underwent digital mammography, target ultrasound and MBI...

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the role of 18 fluorodeoxyglucose (18F) PET/MRI (18F-FDG PET/MRI) for detecting bone metastasis in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Between May 2017 and May 2021, 58 histologically proven NPC patients who underwent both 18F-FDG PET/MRI and 99mTc-MDP planar bone scintigraphy (PBS) for tumor staging were included. With the exception of the head, the skeletal system was classified into four groups: the spine, the pelvis, the thorax and the appendix...

INTRODUCTION: The calculation of resin yttrium-90 (90Y-) microspheres activity for selective internal radiotherapy (SIRT) needs to be investigated. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Analyses using Simplicit90Y (Boston Scientific, Natick, Massachusetts, USA) dosimetry software were performed to determine the concordance between the absorbed doses to the tumor (DT1 and DT2) and healthy liver (DN1 and DN2) during the pre-treatment and the post-treatment phases. An optimized calculation of the activity of 90Y-microspheres performed using dosimetry software was applied retrospectively to assess the impact of this calculation method on the treatment...

OBJECTIVE: 18F-FDG PET can be used to calculate the threshold value of myocardial volume based on the mean standardised uptake value (SUVmean) of the aorta to detect highly integrated regions of cardiac sarcoidosis. The present study investigated the myocardial volume when the position and number of volumes of interest (VOIs) were changed in the aorta. METHODS: The present study examined PET/computed tomography images of 47 consecutive cardiac sarcoidosis cases...