Blood Cholesterol and Triglycerides Associate with Right Ventricular Function in Pulmonary Hypertension.

Background: Blood lipids are dysregulated in pulmonary hypertension (PH). Lower high-density lipoproteins cholesterol (HDL-C) and low-density lipoproteins cholesterol (LDL-C) are associated with disease severity and death in PH. Right ventricle (RV) dysfunction and failure are the major determinants of morbidity and mortality in PH.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension treatment with carvedilol for heart failure: a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Right-sided heart failure is the leading cause of death in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Similar to left heart failure, sympathetic overactivation and β-adrenoreceptor (βAR) abnormalities are found in PAH. Based on successful therapy of left heart failure with β-blockade, the safety and benefits of the nonselective β-blocker/vasodilator carvedilol were evaluated in PAH.

Metabolic and Functional Evaluation of the Heart and Lungs in Pulmonary Hypertension by Gated 2-[18F]-Fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose Positron Emission Tomography.

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is associated with a metabolic shift towards glycolysis in both the right ventricle and lung. This results in increased glucose uptake to compensate for the lower energy yield of glycolysis, which creates a potential for 2-[18F] fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) to be a useful tool in the evaluation of participants with PH. We investigated the utility of PET for PH by comparing FDG-PET uptake in the right ventricle and lungs in 30 participants with PH and eight healthy controls and correlating these measurements with echocardiographic (ECHO) measurements and other traditional assessments commonly used in PH.

Transmission Imaging in Lymphoscintigraphy with a 153Gd Flood Source.

Unlabelled: Lymphoscintigraphy uses intradermal or interstitial injections of (99m)Tc-labeled tracers to produce images of focal lymph nodes. Because there is little or no anatomic information in the (99m)Tc images, a (57)Co flood source is sometimes used to provide transmission data along with the emission data. The anatomic shadow from the transmission scan generally improves interpretation and surgical planning.

Prediction of survival by [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography in patients with locally advanced non-small-cell lung cancer undergoing definitive chemoradiation therapy: results of the ACRIN 6668/RTOG 0235 trial.

Purpose: In this prospective National Cancer Institute-funded American College of Radiology Imaging Network/Radiation Therapy Oncology Group cooperative group trial, we hypothesized that standardized uptake value (SUV) on post-treatment [(18)F]fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) correlates with survival in stage III non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Patients And Methods: Patients received conventional concurrent platinum-based chemoradiotherapy without surgery; postradiotherapy consolidation chemotherapy was allowed. Post-treatment FDG-PET was performed at approximately 14 weeks after radiotherapy.

Fasting 2-deoxy-2-[18F]fluoro-D-glucose positron emission tomography to detect metabolic changes in pulmonary arterial hypertension hearts over 1 year.

Background: The development of tools to monitor the right ventricle in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is of clinical importance. PAH is associated with pathologic expression of the transcription factor hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1α, which induces glycolytic metabolism and mobilization of proangiogenic progenitor (CD34(+)CD133(+)) cells. We hypothesized that PAH cardiac myocytes have a HIF-related switch to glycolytic metabolism that can be detected with fasting 2-deoxy-2-[(18)F]fluoro-d-glucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) and that glucose uptake is informative for cardiac function.

Usefulness of 123I-MIBG scintigraphy in the evaluation of patients with known or suspected primary or metastatic pheochromocytoma or paraganglioma: results from a prospective multicenter trial.

Unlabelled: Although (123)I-MIBG has been in clinical use for the imaging of pheochromocytoma for many years, a large multicenter evaluation of this agent has never been performed. The present study was designed to provide a prospective confirmation of the performance of (123)I-MIBG scintigraphy for the evaluation of patients with known or suspected primary or metastatic pheochromocytoma or paraganglioma.

Methods: A total of 81 patients with a prior history of primary or metastatic pheochromocytoma or paraganglioma and 69 with suspected pheochromocytoma or paraganglioma based on symptoms of catecholamine excess, CT or MRI findings, or elevated catecholamine or metanephrine levels underwent whole-body planar and selected SPECT 24 h after the administration of (123)I-MIBG.

Preoperative 123I/99mTc-sestamibi subtraction SPECT and SPECT/CT in primary hyperparathyroidism.

Unlabelled: The trend toward focused surgical parathyroidectomy requires precise preoperative localization of parathyroid lesions in patients with hyperparathyroidism. The purpose of this study was to directly compare the diagnostic accuracy of (99m)Tc-sestamibi/(123)I subtraction SPECT with SPECT/CT for the localization of abnormal parathyroid glands in patients with primary hyperparathyroidism.

Methods: A total of 61 consecutive surgical patients with primary hyperparathyroidism underwent both (123)I/(99m)Tc-sestamibi subtraction SPECT and SPECT/CT scans preoperatively, using a hybrid SPECT/CT instrument that combined a dual-detector SPECT camera with a 6-slice multidetector spiral CT scanner.

SPECT/CT imaging: clinical utility of an emerging technology.

Single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) has been a mainstay of nuclear medicine practice for several decades. More recently, combining the functional imaging available with SPECT and the anatomic imaging of computed tomography (CT) has gained more acceptance and proved useful in many clinical situations. Most vendors now offer integrated SPECT/CT systems that can perform both functions on one gantry and provide fused functional and anatomic data in a single imaging session.

PET and PET/CT imaging: what clinicians need to know.

Positron emission tomography (PET), once the sole province of academic medical centers, is rapidly being adopted in daily clinical practice in community hospitals and outpatient centers. It can be especially useful in oncology, cardiology, and neurology. We provide an overview of the fundamentals of PET and PET with computed tomography (PET/CT) and discuss their current clinical utility.

FDG positron emission tomography/computerized tomography features of bleomycin-induced pneumonitis.

Bleomycin is a widely used chemotherapeutic that has been shown to induce life-threatening interstitial lung disease in a small subset of patients. We report a case of bleomycin-induced pneumonitis in a patient treated for Hodgkin lymphoma with severe clinical respiratory symptoms, a marked restrictive pattern on pulmonary function tests, and FDG avid lymphadenopathy and diffuse increased uptake involving both lungs on imaging. To our knowledge, the in-line computed tomography/18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography of bleomycin induced pneumonitis has not been previously reported in the literature.