Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: scintigraphy in the diagnosis of steatohepatitis.

Objective: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is the most prevalent cause of chronic liver disease worldwide. Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis is associated with increased mortality rates due to the liver and cardiovascular diseases. The gold standard for discriminating nonalcoholic fatty liver disease activity and staging is the anatomopathological examination, which is an invasive method.

Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder: is there a correlation between dopamine transporter density and cerebral blood flow?

Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most frequent behavioral problems in school-age children. Although the etiology remains unclear, the involvement of the dopaminergic system has been suggested by genetic studies that report an overexpression of the dopamine transporter (DAT) gene. In spite of these abnormalities being directly related to the decrease of dopamine (DA) in the striatum (STR), abnormalities in brain perfusion have also been observed in cortical-subcortical structures.

The surgical management of the sentinel lymph node in cutaneous melanoma might be different when the primary lesion was previously resected with 1 cm margin.

Aim: To simulate the effects of previous wide cutaneous melanoma excision in sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy feasibility through a change in the radiotracer injection site.

Materials And Methods: Thirty-three patients with cutaneous melanoma underwent two preoperatory lymphoscintigraphic studies. In the first, the radiopharmaceutical was injected intradermally 0.

Perfusional evaluation of postesophagectomy gastroplasty with a radioisotopic study.

Anastomotic fistula represents one of the frequent causes of postoperative morbidity and mortality following transhiatal esophageal resections. The main etiological factor is the ischemia of the gastric tube created for digestive transit reconstruction. Evidence suggests that per operative hypoperfusion can be maintained or even impaired after the surgery.

Use of the gamma probe in sentinel lymph node biopsy in patients with prostate cancer.

Objective: To describe the reproducibility of the sentinel lymph node technique in patients with prostate cancer and verify if there is improved accuracy over modified lymphadenectomy.

Material And Methods: Twenty-three patients with biopsy proven prostate cancer were enrolled in this study. Lymphoscintigraphy was performed after the transrectal administration of Tc sulfur colloid guided by ultrasound, with one injection in each prostate lobe.

Localization of the epileptogenic zone by ictal and interictal SPECT with 99mTc-ethyl cysteinate dimer in patients with medically refractory epilepsy.

Purpose: To evaluate the accuracy, feasibility and clinical value of both ictal and interictal 99mTc-ethyl cysteinate dimer (ECD) single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) in patients with medically refractory epilepsy.

Methods: The study included 75 consecutive patients, 48 with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE group), and 27 with extratemporal epilepsy (ExT group). The accuracy of SPECT was analyzed considering the final diagnosis reached by convergence of clinical, electrophysiologic, structural, pathologic and outcome data.

[Scintigraphic diagnosis of esophageal involvement in systemic sclerosis (scleroderma)].

Motor function disturbances (MFD) of the esophagus occur in the majority (90%) of patients with systemic sclerosis. We have tested the diagnostic value of esophagus scintigraphy in 20 patients with systemic sclerosis (12 CREST and 8 with diffuse form) and 18 controls (11 normals and 7 with pyrosis and/or regurgitation), in order to establish sensitivity, specificity, effects of body posture, and use of a liquid or solid meal in the evaluation of MFD of the esophagus. The patients drank 4 ml of fruit juice marked with 500 microCi of 99mTc-sulfur-colloid and afterwards 10 g of an equally marked and scrambled egg.

Early detection of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease using radionuclide lung-imaging procedures.

One hundred subjects answered a respiratory questionnaire and underwent a physical examination, tests of pulmonary function, and three radionuclide lung-imaging procedures. The results of the radionuclide procedures were compared with each other and with pulmonary function tests and other diagnostic findings to determine their relative sensitivity for detecting evidence of early obstructive airway disease. Perfusion lung imaging was less sensitive than most of the other diagnostic tests evaluated.