Quantitative liver SPECT/CT is a novel tool to assess liver function, prognosis, and response to treatment in cirrhosis.

Background: Functional liver reserve is an important determinant of survival in cirrhosis. The traditional indocyanine green test (ICG) is cumbersome. Hence, we developed and validated a novel liver imaging, a hybrid of SPECT and CT (Q-SPECT/CT), for evaluating disease severity, outcomes, and response to treatment in decompensated cirrhosis (DC).

Pretargeting with Cucurbituril-Adamantane Host-Guest Pair in Xenograft Models.

The goal of reducing the total-body radiation dose of macromolecule-based nuclear medicine with a 2-step pretargeting strategy has been achieved with several pretargeting methodologies in preclinical and clinical settings. However, the lack of modularity, biocompatibility, and in vivo stability in existing pretargeting agents obstructs their respective platforms' wide clinical use. We hypothesized that host-guest chemistry would provide an optimal pretargeting methodology.

Evaluation of Reconstruction Algorithms to Validate the NEMA Phantom Results in Clinical Scenario - A Comparative Study Using Time-of-Flight versus Non-Time-of-Flight Positron Emission Tomography Imaging.

Objectives: The objective is to standardize the reconstruction parameters for the time-of-flight (TOF) non-TOF positron-emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) imaging data and validation of the same in a clinical setting.

Methods: The four spheres (10.0/13.

Hand-grip strength as a screening tool for sarcopenia in males with decompensated cirrhosis.

Background: Skeletal muscle index (SMI), the gold standard for sarcopenia, cannot measure muscle strength and requires specialized software and training. Hand-grip strength (HGS) measurement is cheap, requires minimal training and directly reflects muscle strength. We assessed the performance of HGS as a screening tool for sarcopenia in male patients with decompensated cirrhosis (DC).

Multiple Cycles of Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor Increase Survival Times of Patients With Decompensated Cirrhosis in a Randomized Trial.

Background & Aims: There is controversy regarding the inclusion of granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) in the treatment of decompensated cirrhosis. Previous studies tested only a single cycle of G-CSF administration or were underpowered to detect changes in survival time. We performed an adequately powered study to determine whether multiple cycles of G-CSF increased the survival of patients 1 year after the start of therapy.

Radiosynthesis and pre-clinical evaluation of [Ga] labeled antimicrobial peptide fragment GF-17 as a potential infection imaging PET radiotracer.

The antimicrobial peptide fragment GF-17 was synthesized in-house and conjugated with DOTA and measured molecular mass of DOTA-GF-17 conjugate was 2489 Da. The peptide conjugate was purified and labeled with [Ga]. The best radiolabeling efficiency (95.

Outcomes after multiple courses of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor and growth hormone in decompensated cirrhosis: A randomized trial.

Unlabelled: Decompensated cirrhosis (DC) carries a high mortality. Liver transplantation (LT) is the treatment of choice; however, the limited availability of donor organs has resulted in high waitlist mortality. The present study investigated the impact of multiple courses of granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) with or without growth hormone (GH) in these patients.

Radiosynthesis of [18F]-fluorobenzoate-doxorubicin Using Acylation Approach.

Background: Previously, we have labeled doxorubicin with [99Tc] and evaluated its potential as a SPECT agent to detect cancer in tumor bearing mice. In this study, we sought to radiolabel doxorubicin with [18F] using acylation method.

Methods: A quaternary salt of the precursor pentamethylbenzyl-4-(trimethylammonium trifluoromethanesulfonate) benzoate was synthesized and characterized by 1H-NMR.