Impact of pretreatment second look FDG-PET/CT on stage and treatment changes in head and neck cancer.

Background: Patients diagnosed with locoregionally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (LAHNSCC) regularly undergo staging with F-FDG PET/CT in our center. In cases of delays in radiotherapy (RT) planning CT more than 4 weeks after initial PET/CT or clinically suspected progress, PET/CT is repeated for restaging and as an RT planning reference. Our aim was to determine the impact of second-look PET/CT on stage migration, treatment change and RT planning.

The Effect of a Distal Centralizer on Cemented Femoral Stems in Arthroplasty Shown on Radiographs and SPECT/CT: A Case Report.

Case: A 70-year-old female patient underwent total hip arthroplasty (HA) using a stem cemented line-to-line without centralizer. Postoperatively, she complained of load-dependent thigh pain. Conventional radiographs identified cortical overload because of a distal cement mantle discontinuity at the level of the stem's tip, confirmed by single-photon emission computed tomography/computed tomography scan (SPECT/CT).

Appropriate use criteria for dementia amyloid imaging in Switzerland - mini-review and statement on behalf of the Swiss Society of Nuclear Medicine and the Swiss Memory Clinics.

While FDG-PET imaging of the brain for the differential diagnosis of dementia has been covered by the compulsory health insurance in Switzerland for more than a decade, beta-amyloid-PET just recently has been added to the catalogue of procedures that have been cleared for routine use, provided that a set of appropriate use criteria (AUC) be followed. To provide guidance to dementia care practitioners, the Swiss Society of Nuclear Medicine and the Swiss Memory Clinics jointly report a mini-review on beta-amyloid-PET and discuss the AUC set into effect by the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health, as well as their application and limitations.

Successful Treatment of a Resistant Subclone in ALK-Rearranged NSCLC.

Anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) are established effective therapies in patients with ALK-rearranged advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Upon progressive disease, patients normally receive a subsequent ALK TKI. However, when disease progression occurs in a limited number of sites, an oligoprogressive approach is a treatment option.

3D printing of radioactive phantoms for nuclear medicine imaging.

Background: For multicenter clinical studies, PET/CT and SPECT/CT scanners need to be validated to ensure comparability between various scanner types and brands. This validation is usually performed using hollow phantoms filled with radioactive liquids. In recent years, 3D printing technology has gained increasing popularity for manufacturing of phantoms, as it is cost-efficient and allows preparation of phantoms of almost any shape.

Towards guidelines to harmonize textural features in PET: Haralick textural features vary with image noise, but exposure-invariant domains enable comparable PET radiomics.

Purpose: Image texture is increasingly used to discriminate tissues and lesions in PET/CT. For quantification or in computer-aided diagnosis, textural feature analysis must produce robust and comparable values. Because statistical feature values depend on image count statistics, we investigated in depth the stability of Haralick features values as functions of acquisition duration, and for common image resolutions and reconstructions.

Cardiac Implantable Electronic Device-Related Infection Due to .

Cardiac implantable electronic device-related infection is clinically challenging. Curative treatment commonly includes system removal. A case caused by occurred in a 32-year-old woman.

Comparative evaluation of SPECT/CT and CBCT in patients with mandibular osteomyelitis and osteonecrosis.

Objectives: Therapy of osteomyelitis and osteonecrosis very often requires surgery. Proper preoperative radiological evaluation of a lesion's localization and extent is a key in planning surgical bone resection. This study aims to assess the differences between single-photon emission computed tomography and cone beam computed tomography when detecting an osteomyelitis/osteonecrosis lesion as well as the lesion's qualitative parameters, extent, and localization.

Metabolic Tumour Volume for Response Prediction in Advanced-Stage Hodgkin Lymphoma.

(F)fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (F-FDG) positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) for staging Hodgkin lymphoma may allow for accurate and reliable assessment of the metabolic tumour volume (MTV) as baseline risk factor. Our aim was to analyse the prognostic impact of MTV measurements, obtained by different means in advanced-stage Hodgkin lymphoma patients treated within the German Hodgkin Study Group HD18 trial. Within the German Hodgkin Study Group trial HD18, 310 patients underwent F-FDG PET/CT scanning for staging which was available to the central review panel for quantitative analysis.

The combination of preoperative PET/CT and sentinel lymph node biopsy in the surgical management of early-stage cervical cancer.

Introduction: The aim of the study was to evaluate the use of PET/CT and/or SLN mapping alone or in combination in cervical cancer patients.

Materials And Methods: Data on stage IA1-IIA cervical cancer patients undergoing PET/CT and SLN mapping were retrospectively collected. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) of PET/CT and SLN mapping, alone or in combination, in identifying cervical cancer patients with lymph node metastases were calculated.

Technical Note: Transconvolution based equalization of positron energy effects for the use of Ge/ Ga phantoms in determining F PET recovery.

Purpose: Avoiding measurement variability from F phantom preparation by using Ge/ Ga phantoms for the determination of F recovery curves (RC) in clinical quality assurance measurements and for PET/CT site qualification in multicentre clinical trials.

Methods: RCs were obtained from PET/CT measurements of seven differently sized phantom spheres filled either with F or with Ga. RCs for the respective other isotope were then determined by two different methods: In the first method, images were convolved with positron range transconvolution functions derived from positron annihilation distributions found in literature.

Technical Note: Determination of individual thyroid clearance effective half-life with a common handheld electronic dosimeter.

Purpose: To determine the thyroid clearance effective half-life T with a common handheld electronic dosimeter (ED) in patients undergoing radioiodine treatment for hyperthyroidism.

Methods: Dose rates from 12 inpatients were measured daily with an ED and with a clinical uptake counter. The ED was attached to the patient with two different setups, one using a cervical collar and another employing a neck strap.

Isotope independent determination of PET/CT modulation transfer functions from phantom measurements on spheres.

Purpose: A PET/CT system's imaging capabilities are best described by its point spread function (PSF) in the spatial domain or equivalently by its modulation transfer function (MTF) in the spatial frequency domain. Knowing PSFs or MTFs is a prerequisite for many numerical methods attempting to improve resolution and to reduce the partial volume effect. In PET/CT, the observed PSF is a convolution of the system's intrinsic imaging capabilities including image reconstruction (PSF) and the positron range function (PRF) of the imaged β emitting isotope.

Zevalin and BEAM (Z-BEAM) versus rituximab and BEAM (R-BEAM) conditioning chemotherapy prior to autologous stem cell transplantation in patients with mantle cell lymphoma.

Early relapse is common in patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) highlighting the unmet need for further improvement of therapeutic options for these patients. CD20 inhibition combined with induction chemotherapy as well as consolidation with high-dose chemotherapy (HDCT) is increasingly considered cornerstones within current therapy algorithms of MCL whereas the role of radioimmunotherapy is unclear. This retrospective single center study compared 46 consecutive MCL patients receiving HDCT in first or second remission.

Consolidation of first remission using radioimmunotherapy with yttrium-90-ibritumomab-tiuxetan in adult patients with Burkitt lymphoma.

The addition of anti-CD20 antibodies to high intensity polychemotherapy regimens has improved response and survival rates in newly diagnosed patients with Burkitt lymphoma (BL). However, the role of additional anti-CD20 directed radioimmunotherapy for consolidation of first remission (CR1) has not been reported so far in BL patients receiving rituximab during first-line treatment. We compared five BL patients receiving Y-90-IT radioimmunotherapy consolidation in CR1 to 22 consecutive BL patients without consolidation.

Regional Radiation Pneumonitis After SIRT of a Subcapsular Liver Metastasis: What is the Effect of Direct Beta Irradiation?

We herein present a patient undergoing selective internal radiation therapy with an almost normal lung shunt fraction of 11.5%, developing histologically proven radiation pneumonitis. Due to a predominance of pulmonary consolidations in the right lower lung and its proximity to a large liver metastases located in the dome of the right liver lobe a Monte Carlo simulation was performed to estimate the effect of direct irradiation of the lung parenchyma.

Characterization of Pulmonary Vein Dimensions Using High-Definition 64-Slice Computed Tomography prior to Radiofrequency Catheter Ablation for Atrial Fibrillation.

Background. Contrast-enhanced computed tomography is commonly acquired before radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFCA) for atrial fibrillation (AFib) to guide the procedure. We analyzed pulmonary vein (PV) ostial diameter and volumes on a high-definition 64-slice CT (HDCT) scanner in patients with AFib prior to RFCA.

Gender- and age-related differences in rest and post-stress left ventricular cardiac function determined by gated SPECT.

Gender- and age-related changes of left ventricular (LV) function and dimensions have not been elucidated in a large population by gated SPECT. Thus, the aim of this study was to derive male and female reference limits for left ventricular functional parameters, and determine the effect of age on LV dimensions and systolic function for this imaging modality. 1,639 (53% males) subjects without cardiovascular disease who underwent cardiac SPECT between January 2002 and June 2012 were included in this study.

IMRT with ¹⁸FDG-PET\CT based simultaneous integrated boost for treatment of nodal positive cervical cancer.

Background: To evaluate toxicity and outcome of intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) with simultaneous integrated boost (SIB) to the positive lymph nodes in patients with loco-regional advanced cervical cancer (LRACC).

Methods: The study population comprised ten patients with 18FDG-PET\CT positive lymph nodes (LNs), who underwent chemoradiation with IMRT and SIB. A dose of 50.

Transconvolution and the virtual positron emission tomograph--a new method for cross calibration in quantitative PET∕CT imaging.

Purpose: Positron emission tomography (PET)∕computed tomography (CT) measurements on small lesions are impaired by the partial volume effect, which is intrinsically tied to the point spread function of the actual imaging system, including the reconstruction algorithms. The variability resulting from different point spread functions hinders the assessment of quantitative measurements in clinical routine and especially degrades comparability within multicenter trials. To improve quantitative comparability there is a need for methods to match different PET∕CT systems through elimination of this systemic variability.

Coronary artery stents: influence of adaptive statistical iterative reconstruction on image quality using 64-HDCT.

Objective: The assessment of coronary stents with present-generation 64-detector row computed tomography (HDCT) scanners is limited by image noise and blooming artefacts. We evaluated the performance of adaptive statistical iterative reconstruction (ASIR) for noise reduction in coronary stent imaging with HDCT.

Methods And Results: In 50 stents of 28 patients (mean age 64 ± 10 years) undergoing coronary CT angiography (CCTA) on an HDCT scanner the mean in-stent luminal diameter, stent length, image quality, in-stent contrast attenuation, and image noise were assessed.

Age-related normal structural and functional ventricular values in cardiac function assessed by magnetic resonance.

Background: The heart is subject to structural and functional changes with advancing age. However, the magnitude of cardiac age-dependent transformation has not been conclusively elucidated.

Methods: This retrospective cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) study included 183 subjects with normal structural and functional ventricular values.