Feasibility of noise-reduction reconstruction technology based on non-local-mean principle in SiPM-PET/CT.

Quantitative values of positron emission tomography (PET) images using non-local-mean in a silicon photomultiplier (SiPM)-PET/computed tomography (CT) system with phantom and clinical images. The evaluation was conducted on a National Electrical Manufacturers Association body phantom with micro-spheres (4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 13 mm) and clinical images using the SiPM-PET/CT system. The signal-to-background ratio of the phantom was set to 4, and all PET image data was obtained and reconstructed using three-dimensional ordered subset expectation maximization, time-of-flight, point-spread function, and a 4-mm Gaussian filter (GF) and clear adaptive low-noise method (CaLM) in mild, standard, and strong intensities.

Preoperative T staging of urinary bladder cancer: efficacy of stalk detection and diagnostic performance of diffusion-weighted imaging at 3T.

Purpose: We evaluated the ability of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) at 3 tesla for diagnosing T stage and detecting stalks in bladder cancer.

Methods: In total, 39 consecutive patients with bladder tumors underwent magnetic resonance (MR) imaging that included T2-weighted imaging (T2WI) and DWI using a 3T MR scanner. Two radiologists interpreted T2WI plus DWI and T2WI for diagnosis of T stage and for detection of stalks.

Utility of apparent diffusion coefficients in the evaluation of solid renal tumors at 3T.

Purpose: We assessed the usefulness of apparent diffusion coefficients (ADCs) for solid renal tumor imaging using diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWI) at 3T.

Methods: This retrospective study assessed ADCs of 31 patients with renal tumors that were imaged using preoperative DWI. DWI was performed with the b values of 50, 500, and 1000 s/mm(2), using a 3T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system (MAGNETOM Trio, 3T, Siemens Healthcare, Erlangen, Germany).

Reversible T-wave inversions and neurogenic myocardial stunning in a patient with recurrent stress-induced cardiomyopathy.

A 72-year-old female was diagnosed as a stress-induced cardiomyopathy from apical ballooning pattern of left ventricular dysfunction without coronary artery stenosis after the mental stress. ECG showed the transient T-wave inversions after the ST-segment elevations. By the mental stress after 1 year, she showed a transient dysfunction with similar ECG changes again.

A combination of P wave electrocardiography and plasma brain natriuretic peptide level for predicting the progression to persistent atrial fibrillation: comparisons of sympathetic activity and left atrial size.

Purpose: Development of atrial fibrillation (AF) is complexly associated with electrical and structural remodeling and other factors every stage of AF development. We hypothesized that P wave electrocardiography with an elevated brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) level would be associated with the progression to persistence from paroxysmal AF.

Methods: P wave electrocardiography such as a maximum P wave duration (MPWD) and dispersion by 12-leads ECG, heart/mediastinum (H/M) ratio by delayed iodine-123 metaiodobenzylguanidine scintigraphic imaging, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), and left atrial dimension (LAD) by echocardiography, and plasma BNP level were measured to evaluate the electrical and structural properties and sympathetic activity in 71 patients (mean ± standard deviation, age: 67 ± 13 years, 63.

Usefulness of severe cardiac sympathetic dysfunction to predict the occurrence of rapid atrial fibrillation in patients with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) can be a potentially life-threatening arrhythmia when it conducts rapidly through the accessory pathway, which was not predicted by the noninvasive method. We evaluated the cardiac sympathetic activity for predicting the occurrence of AF in patients with Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome. Iodine-123 metaiodobenzylguanidine scintigraphy was performed under stable sinus rhythm conditions at rest <1 week before an electrophysiologic study (EPS) to assess the sympathetic activity using the heart/mediastinum (H/M) ratio in 45 consecutive patients with WPW who had a history of supraventricular tachycardia (mean ± SD, age: 47 ± 17 years, 42.

Diagnostic accuracy of ultra-high-b-value 3.0-T diffusion-weighted MR imaging for detection of prostate cancer.

Purpose: To investigate the diagnostic accuracy of 3.0-T diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) for detection of prostate cancer by using different b-values.

Methods: Seventy-three patients underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at 3.

Association between left and right atrial remodeling with atrial fibrillation recurrence after pulmonary vein catheter ablation in patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation: a pilot study.

Background: Left atrial (LA) remodeling is a factor in atrial fibrillation (AF) recurrence after pulmonary vein catheter ablation (CA), but right atrium (RA) remodeling has not been investigated for possible associations to AF recurrence.

Methods And Results: Using 64-slice multidetector computed tomography, RA and LA volumes were measured 3-dimensionally before CA in 65 patients with initially proven idiopathic paroxysmal AF (mean age, 60±10 years, 81.5% men).

Iodine-123 mIBG Imaging for Predicting the Development of Atrial Fibrillation.

Objectives: we investigated whether cardiac sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activity measured by iodine-123 meta-iodobenzylguanidine ((123)I-mIBG) imaging would be associated with both the occurrence of heart failure (HF) and the transit to permanent atrial fibrillation (AF) in patients with paroxysmal AF.

Background: atrial fibrillation occurs suddenly and transiently and can persist, and results in the occurrence of HF. An important feature of AF and HF is their propensity to coexist not only because they share antecedent risk factors, but also because the one may directly predispose the heart to the other.

MRI of the neck at 3 Tesla using the periodically rotated overlapping parallel lines with enhanced reconstruction (PROPELLER) (BLADE) sequence compared with T2-weighted fast spin-echo sequence.

Purpose: To evaluate motion artifacts, tissue contrasts, and lesion detectability in the neck with the periodically rotated overlapping parallel lines with enhanced reconstruction (PROPELLER) (BLADE) technique.

Materials And Methods: A total of 46 patients referred for MRI of the neck were included in a comparison of T2-weighted BLADE (T2W-BLADE) sequence and T2W fast spin-echo (T2W-FSE) sequence. All examinations were performed at 3T using the same parameters.

Sympathetic dysfunction of systemic right ventricle in congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries.

We evaluate the systemic right ventricle (SRV) failure of congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries using the scintigraphic studies in a case with 32-year-old male who improved the heart failure by the use of beta-adrenergic blockers. The myocardial perfusion sympathetic nervous system activity mismatch with preserved coronary flow and wall thickness indicates a distinctive feature as SRV cardiomyopathy, suggesting the importance of recovery of SRV sympathetic dysfunction for improving the prognosis.

Significance of cardiac sympathetic nervous system abnormality for predicting vascular events in patients with idiopathic paroxysmal atrial fibrillation.

Purpose: Neuronal system activity plays an important role for the prognosis of patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). Using (123)I metaiodobenzylguanidine ((123)I-MIBG) scintigraphy, we investigated whether a cardiac sympathetic nervous system (SNS) abnormality would be associated with an increased risk of vascular events in patients with paroxysmal AF.

Methods: (123)I-MIBG scintigraphy was performed in 69 consecutive patients (67 + or - 13 years, 62% men) with paroxysmal AF who did not have structural heart disease.

Thallium-201 and I-123 beta-methyl iodophenyl-pentadecanoic acid dual isotope single photon emission computed tomography for evaluating reperfusion injury after successful reperfusion therapy.

We report a reperfusion injury after rotational coronary atherectomy (RA) in a 66-year-old man with coronary artery disease. Submaximal exercise with thallium-201 single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging before reperfusion showed partially reversible perfusion defects in the apex and reversible perfusion defects in the anteroseptal area. Thallium-201 and I-123 beta-methyl iodophenyl-pentadecanoic acid (BMIPP) dual isotope SPECT was performed 5 days before and 1 hour after RA, and 1 month after RA.

Technetium-99m pyrophosphate/thallium-201 dual-isotope SPECT imaging predicts reperfusion injury in patients with acute myocardial infarction after reperfusion.

Purpose: Microcirculatory failure after reperfusion is clinically indicated to cause reperfusion injury whereas excessive intracellular calcium ion overload is experimentally proved as a key mechanism of reperfusion injury. We hypothesized that technetium-99m ((99m)Tc) pyrophosphate (Tc-PYP) uptake in injured but viable infarct-related myocardium with preserved myocardial perfusion after reperfusion estimated by thallium-201 ((201)Tl) uptake would be associated with final functional recovery.

Methods: Dual-isotope Tc-PYP/(201)Tl single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) was performed 2 days after successful reperfusion therapy in patients with first acute myocardial infarction, and 50 patients (63 +/- 13 years old, female 22%) with preserved (201)Tl uptakes of > or = 50% in reperfused myocardium was followed for 1 month.

[MR arthrographic findings of SLAP lesion type V].

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the findings of MR arthrography of the shoulder and to assess the role of MR arthrography in the diagnosis of superior labrum anterior to posterior (SLAP) lesion type V.

Methods And Materials: Two radiologists retrospectively reviewed fat-suppressed T1-weighted MR arthrography images of six patients who were diagnosed with SLAP lesion type V by arthroscopy. Each imaging plane, including the transverse, oblique coronal, oblique sagittal, and oblique transverse in abductor external rotation (ABER) position were evaluated for the following three findings: tear of the superior labrum at biceps tendon insertion, Bankart lesion, and continuity of the two former findings.