A brain phantom for studying contrast recovery in emission computerized tomography.

A brain phantom is described that is characterized by a high anatomical definition and by the possibility of varying the internal contrast with the use of a single radioactive solution. The experimental work was done with a single-photon emission computerized tomographic (SPET) rotating camera. The phantom was used to study the contrast recovery of both the filtered back-projection and an iterative reconstruction algorithm.

[Study of myocardial perfusion at rest using technetium Tc 99m methoxy-isobutylisonitrile: comparison with labeled microspheres and thallium 201].

In order to evaluate the potential usefulness of 99m technetium (Tc)-methoxy-isobutyl-isonitrile (MIBI) as a myocardial perfusion tracer in man, its myocardial distribution at rest was compared with that of 201thallium (TI). Perfusion images obtained with 99mTc-labelled microspheres, whose myocardial distribution is exclusively coronary flow dependent, were used as reference. The study was performed on twelve patients (10 males and 2 females, mean age 55.

[Exercise two-dimensional echocardiography in recent myocardial infarction. Is it useful in the detection of multivessel disease?].

Exercise two-dimensional echocardiography (2D-ECHO) can be used to detect coronary artery disease in patients (pts) by the development of stress-induced transient asynergy in areas without wall motion abnormalities when at rest. The aim of the study is to verify the accuracy of exercise 2D-ECHO in the identification of high risk pts with multivessel disease after the first acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Technically adequate 2D-ECHO examinations were obtained in 21 of 28 (75%) consecutive patients after acute myocardial infarction.

Usefulness of the TRH test in the management of patients with differentiated thyroid cancer.

Thirty patients thyroidectomized for differentiated thyroid cancer were studied. Serum TSH was assayed in basal conditions and after TRH stimulation, while patients were in suppressive therapy with thyroid hormones. The basal TSH was normal in all the patients and less than 2 microU/ml in 20 patients.

[Echinococcal cyst of the right ventricle: diagnostic role of 2-dimensional echocardiography].

A case of cardiac echinococcosis in a 22 year-old woman is reported. Clinical findings and cardiac catheterization data offered only presumptive evidence of an intraventricular mass but failed to make a positive diagnosis of cardiac involvement by hydatid disease. Using Two-Dimensional Echocardiography (2-DE) we were able to identify a rounded structure with multiple loculation into the right ventricle, highly suggestive of a hydatid cyst.