Publications by authors named "Bashar Kako"

Neuroendocrine neoplasms (NENs) may be challenging to diagnose due to their small size and diverse anatomical locations. Hybrid imaging techniques, specifically positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) and positron emission tomography/magnetic resonance imaging (PET/MRI), represent the current state-of-the-art for evaluating NENs. The preferred radiopharmaceuticals for NEN PET imaging are gallium-68 (68Ga) DOTA-peptides, which target somatostatin receptors (SSTR) overexpressed on NEN cells.

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Rationale And Objectives: To understand the current state of radiology residents' exposure to nuclear medicine and molecular imaging (NM/MI), determine key factors that may attract more trainees into the field, and identify differentiating aspects between those specializing in NM/MI and those who are not.

Materials And Methods: An anonymous web-based survey was sent to contacts at all diagnostic radiology residency programs in the United States for dissemination to their residents, collecting information about trainees' NM/MI exposure during residency and factors that may attract them to NM/MI.

Results: A total of 198 trainees responded to the survey, 34 of whom plan on pursuing a career in NM/MI.

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Rationale: Over the past decade, technological advances have provided new tools for radiologists. However, the effect of these technological advances on radiologist workload and detecting pathologies needs to be assessed.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to assess the workload, including non-interpretative tasks, associated with Computed Tomography Angiogram (CTA) of Aorta exams performed in the Emergency Department (ED) over a 10-year period and their relationship to detection of aortic pathology.

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Background: Coronary artery calcification (CAC) is a common and important incidental finding in low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) performed for lung cancer screening (LCS). The impact of these incidental findings on patient management is unclear.

Purpose: The goals of our study were to determine the impact of reporting CAC on patient management and to determine whether standardized reporting of CAC affects the likelihood of future interventions.

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Although pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia was historically associated with HIV/AID patients, there is a recent shift in demographics with increasing incidence in patients with hematologic malignancies and transplants. A granulomatous response to pneumocytis jiroveci infection is uncommon and most commonly presents as multiple randomly distributed nodules on chest imaging. Granulomatous pneumocytis jiroveci pneumonia presents with similar clinical manifestations as typical pneumocytis pneumonia but is usually not detected by bronchoalveolar lavage and may require biopsy for a definitive diagnosis.

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Neovascularization and inflammation are independent biological processes but are linked in response to injury. The role of inflammation-dampening cytokines in the regulation of angiogenesis remains to be clarified. The purpose of this work was to test the hypothesis that IL-19 can induce angiogenesis in the absence of tissue hypoxia and to identify potential mechanisms.

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