Impact of [F] FDG PET/CT on outcomes in patients with Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia: A retrospective single-center experience.

Objective: Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia (SAB) is a leading cause of community and hospital-acquired bacteremia with significant morbidity and mortality. Effective management depends on accurate diagnosis, source control and assessment of metastatic infections. [F] FDG PET/CT has been shown to reduce mortality in high-risk SAB patients.

Kidney dynamic SPECT acquisition on a CZT swiveling-detector ring camera: an in vivo pilot study.

Background: Large field of view CZT SPECT cameras with a ring geometry are available for some years now. Thanks to their good sensitivity and high temporal resolution, general dynamic SPECT imaging may be performed more easily, without resorting to dedicated systems. To evaluate the dynamic SPECT imaging by such cameras, we have performed an in vivo pilot study to analyze the kidney function of a pig and compare the results to standard dynamic planar imaging by a conventional gamma camera.

[F]FDG-PET/CT in Polymyalgia Rheumatica: An Update and Future Aspects.

Polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) is an inflammatory disorder usually diagnosed in patients older than 50 years of age. It is characterized by sudden onset pain and prolonged morning stiffness in the scapular and/or pelvic girdle, sometimes debilitating and accompanied by constitutional symptoms such as weight loss. In approximately 20% of the cases, it is linked to giant cell arteritis (GCAV) representing a disease continuum.

A large-volume low-pressure nasal irrigation delivers drug into the nasal cavity? An in vivo study.

The nasal administration route emerged as an interesting route in systemic and brain drug delivery, and different modalities of nasal delivery are available. The nasal irrigation is one of them, but there is a lack of studies investigating the distribution of a large-volume irrigation. The main aim of this study was to assess the deposition of radiolabeled saline in the nasal cavities and paranasal sinuses following nasal irrigation by imaging.

Main challenges in radiation protection with emerging radionuclide therapies.

The recent development of radionuclide therapy and radioligand therapy has raised a call for achieving the highest quality standards, for either radiopharmacy or radiation protection. Novel radionuclides are now being used, either under the form of in-house production radiopharmaceuticals or available from companies. Over the last 20 years, they include radiolabeled microspheres for selective internal radiotherapy (SIRT), the introduction of the first commercially available alpha emitter radiopharmaceutical, Ra, and the radiosynoviorthesis which is highly variable across Europe.

A Theranostic Approach in SIRT: Value of Pre-Therapy Imaging in Treatment Planning.

Selective internal radiation therapy (SIRT) is one of the treatment options for liver tumors. Microspheres labelled with a therapeutic radionuclide (Y or Ho) are injected into the liver artery feeding the tumor(s), usually achieving a high tumor absorbed dose and a high tumor control rate. This treatment adopts a theranostic approach with a mandatory simulation phase, using a surrogate to radioactive microspheres (Tc-macroaggregated albumin, MAA) or a scout dose of Ho microspheres, imaged by SPECT/CT.

Update on Imaging of Inflammatory Arthritis and Related Disorders.

Arthritis and other rheumatic disorders are very frequent in the general population and responsible for a huge physical and disability burden to affected patients as well as a major cost to the society. Precise evaluation often relies on clinical data only but additional imaging may be required i) for a more objective assessment of the disease status, such as in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) or ankylosing spondyloarthritis (AS), ii) for providing prognostic information and evaluating response to treatment or iii) for establishing diagnosis, in patients with unclear clinical picture, such as polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) and large-vessel vasculitis (LVV). Besides radiological techniques (x-rays, ultrasound, and MRI), functional and molecular imaging has emerged as a valid tool for this purpose in several disorders.

The role of PET/CT in large vessel vasculitis and related disorders: diagnosis, extent evaluation and assessment of therapy response.

Large vessel vasculitides (LVV) are defined as chronic inflammatory disorders that affect the arteries with two major variants being distinguished: giant cell arteritis (GCA) and Takayasu's arteritis (TAK). These often present with nonspecific constitutional symptoms which makes an accurate diagnosis often challenging. Nevertheless, timely diagnosis is of utmost importance to initiate treatment and to avoid potential life-threatening complications.

TCP post-radioembolization and TCP post-EBRT in HCC are similar and can be predicted using the in vitro radiosensitivity.

Background: Tumor equivalent uniform dose (EUD) is proposed as a predictor of patient outcome after liver radioembolization (RE) of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and can be evaluated with Y-TOF-PET. The aim is to evaluate the correlation between PET-based tumors EUD and the clinical response evaluated with dual molecular tracer (C-acetate and F-FDG) PET/CT post-RE.

Methods: 34 HCC tumors in 22 patients were prospectively evaluated.

Optimization of the Clinical Effectiveness of Radioembolization in Hepatocellular Carcinoma with Dosimetry and Patient-Selection Criteria.

Selective internal radiation therapy (SIRT) is part of the treatment strategy for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Strong clinical data demonstrated the effectiveness of this therapy in HCC with a significant improvement in patient outcomes. Recent studies demonstrated a strong correlation between the tumor response and the patient outcome when the tumor-absorbed dose was assessed by nuclear medicine imaging.

Dual-layer collimator for improved spatial resolution in SPECT with CZT camera: an analytical and Monte Carlo study.

Current hole matching pixel detector (HMPD) collimators for SPECT imaging exist in two configurations: one hole per pixel (1HMPD) or four holes per pixel (4HMPD). The aim of this study was to assess the performance of a dual-layer collimator made by stacking up these two collimator types (1H/4HMDP) for low- and medium energy gamma emitters..

Semi-Quantitative and Quantitative [F]FDG-PET/CT Indices for Diagnosing Large Vessel Vasculitis: A Critical Review.

To confirm the diagnosis of large vessel vasculitis (LVV) with high accuracy, one of the recommended imaging techniques is [F]Fluoro-2-deoxy-d-glucose positron emission tomography with computed tomography ([F]FDG-PET/CT). Visual assessment of [F]FDG uptake in the arterial wall compared to liver uptake is the mainstay for diagnosing LVV in routine clinical practice. To date, there is no consensus on the preferred semi-quantitative or quantitative parameter for diagnosing LVV.

Antireflux catheter improves tumor targeting in liver radioembolization with resin microspheres.

Purpose: We aimed to determine whether antireflux (ARC) catheter may result in better tumor targeting in liver radioembolization using 90Y-resin microspheres.

Methods: Patients treated with resin microspheres for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and secondary liver malignancies were retrospectively analyzed. All patients underwent a 99mTc-macroaggregated albumin (99mTc-MAA) single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) following the planning arteriography with a conventional end-hole catheter.

Comparison of Ga-Prostate Specific Membrane Antigen (PSMA) Positron Emission Tomography Computed Tomography (PET-CT) and Whole-Body Magnetic Resonance Imaging (WB-MRI) with Diffusion Sequences (DWI) in the Staging of Advanced Prostate Cancer.

Prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA) positron emission tomography computed tomography (PET-CT) and whole-body magnetic resonance imaging (WB-MRI) outperform standard imaging technology for the detection of metastasis in prostate cancer (PCa). There are few direct comparisons between both modalities. This paper compares the diagnostic accuracy of PSMA PET-CT and WB-MRI for the detection of metastasis in PCa.

Yttrium-90 TOF-PET-Based EUD Predicts Response Post Liver Radioembolizations Using Recommended Manufacturer FDG Reconstruction Parameters.

Purpose: Explaining why Y TOF-PET based equivalent uniform dose (EUD) using recommended manufacturer FDG reconstruction parameters has been shown to predict response.

Methods: The hot rods insert of a Jaszczak deluxe phantom was partially filled with a 2.65 GBq Y - 300ml DTPA water solution resulting in a 100 Gy mean absorbed dose in the 6 sectors.

Accurate non-tumoral 99mTc-MAA absorbed dose prediction to plan optimized activities in liver radioembolization using resin microspheres.

Aim: The manufacturers' recommended methods to calculate delivered activities in liver radioembolization are simplistic and only slightly personalized. Activity planning could also be based on a Tc-macroaggregated albumin SPECT/CT (MAA) using the partition model but its accuracy is controversial. This study evaluates the dose parameters in the normal liver and in the tumor compartments using MAA SPECT/CT (pre-therapeutic imaging) and Y TOF-PET/CT (post-therapy imaging).