Liver adenomatosis mimics metastatic liver involvement on FDG-PET/ CT.

Background: Liver adenomatosis is a very rare disease. In the literature, we were able to find only two case reports documenting the appearance of this disease on PET/CT with 18F-fludeoxyglucose (FDG-PET/CT).

Case: Numerous liver foci were detected during sonography in a 52-year-old female patient with uncharacteristic pain in the epigastrium without oncological history, with negative oncomarkers and without clinical signs of generalized neoplasia.

Improved beta-amyloid PET reproducibility using two-phase acquisition and grey matter delineation.

Purpose: We investigated whether the reproducibility of standard visual reporting (STD method) in flutemetamol (FMM) PET can be improved using a newly introduced method that uses grey matter edges derived from the perfusion phase (GM-EDGE method).

Methods: Two-phase FMM PET was performed in 121 patients with mild cognitive impairment. Five nuclear medicine physicians blindly and independently evaluated all late-phase scans, initially employing the STD method and later the GM-EDGE method.

Durable Complete Response of Colorectal Cancer Metastasis after Biochemotherapy.

Background: Resection of the metastatic site is indicated but not always possible in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) who achieve a partial or complete response (CR) to induction systemic treatment. CR after systemic treatment alone is uncommon, and even patients with radiologic CR after induction chemotherapy harbour persistent macroscopic or microscopic residual disease in more than 80% of cases. Occasionally, some metastatic lesions disappear radiologically but others persist after induction systemic treatment.

An easy way to increase confidence in beta-amyloid PET evaluation.

Background: In patients with brain atrophy, it is not easy to distinguish pathologic uptake of flutemetamol (FMM) in the gray matter from nonspecific, physiologic uptake in the white matter. In this paper we suggest an easy image processing method.

Material And Methods: The proof-of-concept study involved three patients with mild cognitive impairment and different graphical findings at FMM-PET.

FDG-PET/CT lymph node staging after neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with adenocarcinoma of the esophageal-gastric junction.

Objectives: The aim of the analysis was to assess the accuracy of various FDG-PET/CT parameters in staging lymph nodes after neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

Methods: In this prospective study, 74 patients with adenocarcinoma of the esophageal-gastric junction were examined by FDG-PET/CT in the course of their neoadjuvant chemotherapy given before surgical treatment. Data from the final FDG-PET/CT examinations were compared with the histology from the surgical specimens (gold standard).

[18F]FDG-PET scan in patients with fasting hyperglycemia.

Background: It is generally accepted that a non-fasting state reduces [18F]FDG-PET quality, but the significance of higher levels of fasting blood glucose has aroused some doubts over time. The aim of this work was to provide further evidence to clarify this issue and its impact on the handling of hyperglycemic patients in daily routine.

Methods: Muscle and liver standardized uptake values (SUV) and their ratio, tumor SUV and the frequency of positive PET findings were retrospectively analyzed in 116 hyperglycemic (HG) patients (>11 mmol/L), in 116 patients with slightly elevated glycemia (SEG) (5.

Assessment of left ventricular diastolic function by radionuclide ventriculography in patients with chronic heart failure and reduced ejection fraction.

Study Objective: To compare parameters of diastolic function as assessed by radionuclide ventriculography (RNVG) and Doppler echocardiography (ECHO) in the patients with chronic heart failure and reduced ejection fraction (HF REF).

Patients And Methods: RNVG and ECHO were performed on the same day in 40 patients with systolic chronic HF, NYHA II and III, with LV EF < 50 % and sinus rhythm, followed at tertiary HF clinic. Diastolic function was assessed by RNVG using parameters: PFR (peak filling rate [% SV/sec]), TFR - time to peak filling rate (ms), and by ECHO using pulse Doppler parameters: the peak Doppler velocities of early (E) and late diastolic flow (A), the E/A ratio, the calculated mean of the early (E´) diastolic velocity of septal and lateral mitral annulus measured by tissue Doppler imaging, and the E/E´ ratio.

FLT-PET in previously untreated patients with low-grade glioma can predict their overall survival.

Background: Low-grade gliomas (LGG) of the brain have an uncertain prognosis, as many of them show continuous growth or upgrade over the course of time. We retrospectively investigated the role of positron emission tomography with 3'-deoxy-3'-[18F]fluorothymidine (FLT-PET) in the prediction of overall survival and event free survival in patients with untreated LGG. No such information is yet available in the literature.

Current trends in the diagnosis of vascular prosthesis infection.

Early diagnosis of an infected vascular prosthesis, a potentially life-threatening disease, is a precondition of adequate treatment. The most frequently used diagnostic imaging method is computer tomography. Non-acute infections caused by low grade agents may pose a challenge with ambiguous CT-images and other ancillary imaging methods are used for these cases, each offering different levels of diagnostic sensitivity.

Monte Carlo simulation of PET images for injection dose optimization.

When a patient is examined by positron emission tomography (PET), radiotracer dose amount (activity) has to be determined. However, the rules for activity correction according to patients' weight used nowadays do not correspond with practical experience. Very high image quality is achieved for slim patients, whereas noisy images are produced for obese patients.

Endovascular treatment of infected aortic aneurysms.

Objective: To report on the short- and long-term outcomes of patients with primary infected aortic aneurysm (IAA) treated by stent graft (SG) in two centers.

Material And Method: Over a period of 15 years, 32 patients with IAA underwent endovascular treatment. None had undergone previous aortic surgery.

The analysis of factors affecting the threshold on repeated 18F-FDG-PET/CT investigations measured by the PERCIST protocol in patients with esophageal carcinoma.

Background: When applying the PET Response Criteria in Solid Tumors protocol, a threshold value based on standardized uptake value corrected to lean body mass (SUL) in liver parenchyma, or in the blood pool, is used: to metabolically specify a measurable lesion; to calculate metabolic tumor volume (mTV) and its product total lesion glycolysis (TLG); and as a limit for response measurement. The problem with using changes in glucose metabolism as a marker for response to therapy is its reproducibility on test-retest examinations. Therefore, before the evaluation of tumor treatment response, we verified our diagnostic protocol for homogeneity using the PET Response Criteria in Solid Tumors quality parameters.

PET/CT significance for planning radiotherapy of head and neck cancer.

The combination of positron emission tomography and computed tomography (PET/CT) offers metabolic mapping in addition to anatomic information of the primary lesion, nodal and distant metastases in patients with head and neck tumors, and may be therefore beneficial for radiotherapy planning. The aim of our study was to evaluate benefits of combined PET and CT imaging for staging and target volume delineation in this group of patients.Fifty three patients (40 men and 13 women) with confirmed advanced, inoperable or non-radically operated head and neck cancer were assessed based on the results of PET/CT as well as standard diagnostic examinations.

[Contribution to diagnostics of vascular prosthesis infections].

Vascular prosthesis infection is a life-threatening complication in 0.5-5% of cases. Early and reliable diagnosis is a necessity for adequate treatment.

Contribution to FDG-PET/CT diagnostics and post-operative monitoring of patients with mycotic aneurysm of the thoracic aorta.

Bacterial infection of the aorta is a life threatening condition calling for timely diagnostics and therapy. In the short communication presented here, the authors offer a case report on a patient of 70 years of age with aneurysm of the descending aorta caused by salmonella. The advantages of a new diagnostic hybrid modality are demonstrated and also the possibility of using it in the course of long-term monitoring of patients.

Diagnostics of "non-acute" vascular prosthesis infection using 18F-FDG PET/CT: our experience with 96 prostheses.

Introduction: Vascular prosthesis infection (VPI) is a life-threatening complication that occurs in 0.5-5% of prostheses. Low-grade infections in non-acute patients are a diagnostic challenge requiring a new method with good diagnostic accuracy.

Use of PET and PET/CT for radiation therapy planning: IAEA expert report 2006-2007.

Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is a significant advance in cancer imaging with great potential for optimizing radiation therapy (RT) treatment planning and thereby improving outcomes for patients. The use of PET and PET/CT in RT planning was reviewed by an international panel. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) organized two synchronized and overlapping consultants' meetings with experts from different regions of the world in Vienna in July 2006.

[The outcome of whole-body FDG-PET examination predicts the future of patients with diffuse large-cell lymphoma in the use of both intermediary staging and at the end of standard chemotherapy].

Aim: Response to the therapy is one of the most valuable prognostic factors. The response evaluation is performed by computer tomography as a standard tool. The introduction of FDG-PET whole body imaging allows to discriminate viable tumor and fibrotic changes in structural abnormalities.

Prognostic and diagnostic accuracy of [18F]FDG-PET/CT in 190 patients with carcinoma of unknown primary.

Purpose: The aim of the study was to determine the accuracy of [(18)F]fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET/CT in the search for the primary and the presence of a malignancy. The prognostic value of FDG-PET/CT information was tested.

Methods: A total of 190 patients were retrospectively analysed: 82 with histologically proven metastases (HPM) and 108 with clinical suspicion of the presence of a malignancy (CSM).

18FDG PET in hallucinating and non-hallucinating patients.

Objective: The aim of the study was to detect whether the abnormal regional brain activity correlates with auditory verbal hallucination-proneness (AVH) in a group of patients with schizophrenia and schizophrenia-related psychoses.

Methods: 15 patients with prominent AVH (score for hallucination intensity--item 3 in the PANSS > or =4) and 15 control patients without AVH (item 3 PANSS score < or =2) underwent 18FDG positron emission tomography at rest.

Results: SPM group analysis revealed an increased uptake of 18FDG in the right middle frontal gyrus (BA46) in subjects with high verbal hallucination score compared to non-hallucinating patients (p<0.

Role of FDG-PET and PET/CT in the diagnosis of prolonged febrile states.

Purpose: The role of FDG-PET and PET/CT in patients whose main symptom is prolonged fever has not yet been defined. We addressed this topic in a retrospective study.

Methods: A total of 124 patients (referred between May 2001 and December 2004) with fever of unknown origin or prolonged fever due to a suspected infection of a joint or vascular prosthesis were included in the study.

Comparison of 18F-FDG-PET and standard procedures for the pretreatment staging of children and adolescents with Hodgkin's disease.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to perform a prospective, blinded comparison of( 18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) and conventional staging methods (CSMs) for initial staging of children and adolescents with Hodgkin's disease (HD).

Methods: Over a period of 4 years, 55 children and adolescents with HD (mean age 15.5 years, range 3.