Newer PET application with an old tracer: role of 18F-NaF skeletal PET/CT in oncologic practice.

The skeleton is one of the most common sites for metastatic disease, particularly from breast and prostate cancer. Bone metastases are associated with considerable morbidity, and accurate imaging of the skeleton is important in determining the appropriate therapeutic plan. Sodium fluoride labeled with fluorine 18 (sodium fluoride F 18 [(18)F-NaF]) is a positron-emitting radiopharmaceutical first introduced several decades ago for skeletal imaging.

Effectiveness and safety of 18F-FDG PET in the evaluation of dementia: a review of the recent literature.

Imaging that can detect pathophysiologic change in the brain holds great promise for diagnostic assessment of patients with Alzheimer disease (AD) and dementia. Although a previous metaanalysis centering on literature from 1990 to 2000 showed a summary accuracy of 86% for (18)F-FDG PET for AD diagnosis, the clinical value was considered uncertain because of methodologic shortcomings. Review of the recent literature since 2000 demonstrates that the evidence for (18)F-FDG PET in assessment of dementia has increased with new studies that include autopsy confirmation, wide-diagnostic-spectrum recruitment in primary care settings, historical and prospective cohort studies, and multicenter data analyses.

Differential SPECT activation patterns associated with PASAT performance may indicate frontocerebellar functional dissociation in chronic mild traumatic brain injury.

Unlabelled: Patients with mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) often complain of cognitive fatigue during the chronic recovery phase. The Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT) is a complex psychologic measure that may demonstrate subtle deficiencies in higher cognitive functions. The purpose of this study was to investigate the brain activation of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) with PASAT in patients with mild TBI to explore mechanisms for the cognitive fatigue.

False-positive "necklace sign" on whole-body thyroid cancer survey--a case report.

A woman with papillary thyroid carcinoma treated with surgery and postoperative 131I returned 4 y later for a whole-body survey. The imaging results initially suggested disease recurrence but were later found to be false positive and due to 131I uptake in a necklace that had been contaminated by the patient's saliva. This case stresses the importance of having the patient remove all jewelry before undergoing a radioiodine survey.

Positron emission tomography of schwannomas: emphasizing its potential in preoperative planning.

Objective: In this article, we describe FDG uptake in schwannoma as measured on positron emission tomography (PET). FDG uptake is compared with tumor cellularity, tumor size, and tumor proliferation rate (Ki-67 index).

Conclusion: Schwannomas generally have a high tumor-to-background ratio on FDG PET.