Quantitative Effect of Metal Artefact Reduction on CT-based attenuation correction in FDG PET/CT in patients with hip prosthesis.

Background: Metal artefact reduction (MAR) techniques still are in limited use in positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT). This study aimed to investigate the effect of Smart MAR on quantitative PET analysis in the vicinity of hip prostheses.

Materials And Methods: Activities were measured on PET/CT images in 6 sources with tenfold activity concentration contrast to background, attached to the head, neck and the major trochanter of a human cadaveric femur, and in the same sources in similar locations after a hip prosthesis (titanium cup, ceramic head, chrome-cobalt stem) had been inserted into the femur.

The effect of cigarette smoking on the semen parameters of infertile men.

Introduction: 36.9% of men worldwide use tobacco. Previous studies suggest a negative effect of cigarette smoking on semen quality, but the results are contradictory.