Occupancy of striatal D(2)-like dopamine receptors after treatment with the sigma ligand EMD 57445, a putative atypical antipsychotic.

Rationale: EMD 57445 (panamesine) is a high affinity sigma ligand with the profile of an atypical antipsychotic in animal studies. It has been reported recently to have antipsychotic activity in schizophrenia. However, its metabolite, EMD 59983, binds also to D(2) and D(3) dopamine (DA) receptors.

[Automatic setting of the contrast range of whole body scintigrams using a histogram method].

Aim: To get standardised results on the display of whole body scintigrams regarding an optimal contrast setting (using linear scaling), an algorithm was developed, which can be used for an automatic setting of an upper intensity truncation value.

Methods: From the integral of the gray level histogram of 30 randomly selected whole body images upper threshold values LA were defined, where a certain area percentage A (80% < or = A < or = 99.5%) of all pixels with intensity > 0 are contained in the intensity range.

[Imaging of metastases from thyroid carcinomas using 111In-pentetreotide scintigraphy].

There is little experience with imaging of thyroid carcinoma tissue by somatostatin receptor scintigraphy. Our case report describes an acromegalic patient, in whom 111In pentetreotide scintigraphy did not only demonstrate a receptor-positive pituitary tumor but also visualized metastases from a papillary thyroid carcinoma which had no correlate in radioiodine scintigraphy carried out under hypothyroid conditions. The possible role of this radiopharmaceutical in dedifferentiating thyroid carcinoma is discussed for its usefulness in tumor localisation and its predictive value for the outcome of an octreotide therapy.