18F-FDG PET/CT as predictive and prognostic factor in esophageal cancer treated with combined modality treatment.

Purpose: [18F] fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography ([18F] FDG-PET/CT) is used for diagnosis, staging, response assessment and prognosis prediction in different tumors, but its role in esophageal cancer is still debated. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of semiquantitative baseline PET parameters as possible prognostic and predictive factors in a series of esophageal carcinomas treated with combined modalities.

Methods: 43 patients with esophageal carcinoma were treated with chemoradiotherapy (CRT) followed by surgery in 20 cases and underwent pre-treatment 18F-FDG-PET/CT.

Role of positron emission tomography in the assessment of disease burden and risk of relapse in patients affected by giant cell arteritis.

Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is characterized by two subsets: cranial GCA and large-vessel GCA (LV-GCA); positron emission tomography (PET) is an essential tool in the diagnosis of LV-GCA. In this study, we aimed to investigate its potential prognostic value in the stratification of relapse risk. We retrospectively revised all the clinical records of patients who received a diagnosis of GCA at an immuno-rheumatology clinic of a University Hospital along 6 years and who underwent to a PET-CT examination at diagnosis.

Does baseline [18F] FDG-PET/CT correlate with tumor staging, response after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy, and prognosis in patients with rectal cancer?

Background: [18F] fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography ([18F] FDG-PET/CT) may be used for tumor staging and prognosis in several tumors but its role in rectal cancer is still debated. The aim of the present study was to assess the correlation of baseline [18F] FDG-PET parameters with tumor staging, tumor response (tumor regression grade (TRG)), and outcome in a series of patients affected by locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) treated with neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (CRT).

Methods: One hundred patients treated with neoadjuvant CRT and radical surgery were enrolled in the present study.

Role of molecular imaging in the management of patients affected by inflammatory bowel disease: State-of-the-art.

Aim: To present the current state-of-the art of molecular imaging in the management of patients affected by inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

Methods: A systematic review of the literature was performed in order to find important original articles on the role of molecular imaging in the management of patients affected by IBD. The search was updated until February 2016 and limited to articles in English.

Deep Inspiration Breath Hold [(18)F]FDG PET-CT on 4-rings scanners in evaluating lung lesions: evidences from a phantom and a clinical study.

Objective: To investigate the clinical feasibility of a Deep Inspiration Breath Hold (DIBH) (18)F-FDG PET-CT acquisition in apnea and compare the results obtained between these acts of acquisition in apnea and in Free Breathing in the evaluation of lung lesions.

Material And Methods: A pre-clinical phantom study was performed to evaluate the shortest simulated DIBH time according to the minimum detectable lesion that can be detected by our ultrasound scanner. This study was conducted by changing acquisition time and sphere-to-background activity ratio values and by using radioactivity densities similar to those generally found in clinical examinations.

The value of attenuation correction by hybrid SPECT/CT imaging on infarct size quantification in male patients with previous inferior myocardial infarct.

Background: Attenuation correction (AC) has been shown to improve the accuracy of myocardial perfusion single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) for the detection and evaluation of patients with coronary artery disease. Attenuation artifacts, because of diaphragmatic attenuation, frequently affect the evaluation of the inferior wall, especially in male patients.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the value of AC for the assessment of infarct size in coronary artery disease patients after inferior myocardial infarction.

Two sequential Tc-99m ECD SPECT studies in a case of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease confirmed at autopsy.

Background: Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is a subacute spongiform encephalopathy characterized by rapidly progressive dementia, hard to diagnose during life.

Materials And Methods: We present a case of a patient with pathologically confirmed sporadic form of CJD in whom initial diagnostic tests were negative. Two sequential brain single-photon emission computed tomography with Tc-99m ethyl-cysteinate dimer were performed, the first one was performed few days after the admission into hospital and the second, 1 month later.

F-18 FDG-PET/CT evaluation of patients with differentiated thyroid cancer with negative I-131 total body scan and high thyroglobulin level.

Purpose: The aim was to evaluate the incremental diagnostic rate of F-18 fluoro-fluorodeoxygulose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (F-18 FDG-PET/CT) in patients with negative I-131 whole body scans and high Tg levels. The secondary end points were correlations between F-18 FDG-PET/CT positive results and Tg levels and comparison between F-18 FDG-PET/CT accuracy in patients "on-therapy" with suppressed thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) and those with high TSH levels.

Methods: We studied 52 patients who had undergone total thyroidectomy and remnant ablation; they had high Tg levels (average = 156 ng/mL; SD +/- 274) after 3 weeks of levothyroxine withdrawal and negative I-131 total body scans after therapeutic doses.

Residual brain viability, evaluated by (99m)Tc-ECD SPECT, in patients with suspected brain death and with confounding clinical factors.

Background: In 1968, the Harvard criteria for brain death diagnosis were introduced in clinical practice. These include no movements or breathing, no reflexes, and flat electroencephalogram in the absence of confounding factors, including hypothermia, drugs, electrolyte, and endocrine disturbances. When confounding factors occur, confirmatory tests documenting the absence of cerebral blood flow, such as cerebral angiogram, transcranial Doppler sonography, computed tomography angiography, and nuclear techniques, are required.

Elevation of Gas6 protein concentration in cerebrospinal fluid of patients with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP).

Introduction: Gas6 enhances survival of Schwann cells and neurons in vitro and participates in autoimmunity in animal models. Since its concentration in human cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is unknown, we measured it in samples from patients with non-inflammatory/non-autoimmune neurological diseases (NINAD) and autoimmune polyneuropathies.

Materials And Methods: Samples collected after informed consent during diagnostic lumbar puncture in the period 1999-2006 were stored at -30 degrees C.