Hypothesis: Is heroin a 'barrier' against cancer? A retrospective analysis of heroin-addicted individuals untreated for opioid dependence between 2001-2010.

Purpose: The findings of previous studies attracted our interest in searching and defining the percentage of deaths from cancer in 'heroin regular addicts' i.e. those who had never stopped taking the drug since they started.

Comparative evaluation of 99mTc-depreotide and 201Tl chloride single photon emission tomography in the characterization of pulmonary lesions.

Purpose: To compare (99m)Tc-depreotide and (201)Tl chloride SPET in the characterization of pulmonary lesions.

Methods: Fifty-seven pulmonary lesions from 33 patients suspected of malignancy in computed tomography, were assessed by (99m)Tc-depreotide and (201)Tl early and delayed SPET imaging. Images were visually assessed and the tumour-to-normal (T/N) lung activity ratio for early (ER) and delayed (DR) scans and the retention index (RI), were calculated in every lesion.