Early detection and monitoring of cartilage alteration in the experimental meniscectomised guinea pig model of osteoarthritis by 99mTc-NTP 15-5 scintigraphy.

Purpose: This study in the meniscectomised guinea pig aimed to demonstrate that the radiotracer (99m)Tc-NTP 15-5 would have pathophysiological validity for in vivo osteoarthritis imaging.

Methods: The specificity of (99m)Tc-NTP 15-5 for cartilage was determined in healthy animals (n = 13), by tissue radioactivity counting, joint autoradiography and scintigraphy. (99m)Tc-NTP 15-5 scintigraphy was performed at 20, 50, 80, 115, 130, 150 and 180 days after medial meniscectomy (n = 10 MNX) or sham operation (n = 5), and scintigraphic ratios (operated/contralateral) were calculated for femoral (F) and tibial (T) areas.

123I-N-(2-diethylaminoethyl)-2-iodobenzamide: a potential imaging agent for cutaneous melanoma staging.

Melanoma is a neoplasia of dramatically increasing incidence that has a propensity to spread rapidly. Early detection is fundamental and patient management requires reliable, sensitive and reproducible staging methods, such as a single examination by planar scintigraphy or single-photon emission tomography (SPET) using a radiopharmaceutical with selectivity for melanoma tissue. Among iodobenzamides reported to possess an affinity for melanoma, a new compound, N-(2-diethylaminoethyl)-2-iodobenzamide (BZA(2)), was selected for a clinical trial in view of its pharmacokinetic experimental profile in melanoma-bearing mice.