Utility of whole-body (head-to-toe) PET/CT in the evaluation of melanoma and sarcoma patients.

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the added benefit of whole-body (head-to-toes) PET/CT versus routine 'eyes-to-thighs' PET/CT of melanoma and sarcoma patients.

Patients And Methods: We performed a retrospective review of consecutive whole-body PET/CT scans from January 2006 through December 2010 in patients with melanoma or sarcoma. PET abnormalities in the brain, distal thighs, and legs were recorded and clinical significance was assessed on the basis of pathology, imaging studies, and clinical follow-up.

Optimal interpretative strategy for preoperative parathyroid scintigraphy.

Purpose: Our objective was to retrospectively compare various scintigraphic methods to determine their relative accuracies and interobserver variabilities in preoperative localization of single-gland disease in patients with primary hyperparathyroidism.

Patients And Methods: We studied 292 patients who underwent preoperative parathyroid scintigraphy and surgical resection between June 2002 and September 2008. Imaging included early and delayed pinhole Tc-MIBI imaging (including anterior oblique images), similar I imaging, and MIBI SPECT.

Facelift and patterns of lymphatic drainage.

Background: It has commonly been assumed that deeper facelift dissection causes greater and more prolonged swelling.

Objectives: In this preliminary report, the authors compare the lymphatic reconstitution after multiple techniques of rhytidectomy by means of dynamic lymphoscintigraphy.

Methods: Three patients were enrolled in this study.

Visualization of discrete sacral foramina as an ancillary sign of superscan.

Objectives: the purpose of this study was to determine if visualization of discrete sacral foramina on bone scintigraphy can be used as an adjunct criterion supportive of a superscan diagnosis.

Methods: the Radiology Information System at our institution was queried for all bone scintigraphy reports, during July 1999 to July 2009, containing the words/phrases: normal bone scan, normal bone scintigraphy, superscan, or diffuse osseous metastatic disease. The final study group consisted of 22 normal studies and 8 superscans.

PET imaging today: contribution to the initial staging and prognosis of patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphomas.

Malignant non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHLs) are commonly staged according to the Ann Arbor staging system developed for Hodgkin's lymphoma. Recently, new staging modalities including metabolic imaging by positron emission tomography (PET) using F-18 fluorodeoxy-glucose (FDG) have been developed. In the present study, we investigated 77 untreated patients with different histologies of NHL both with conventional imaging techniques and FDG-PET.

Use of PET/CT scanning in cancer patients: technical and practical considerations.

This overview of the oncologic applications of positron emission tomography (PET) focuses on the technical aspects and clinical applications of a newer technique: the combination of a PET scanner and a computed tomography (CT) scanner in a single (PET/CT) device. Examples illustrate how PET/CT contributes to patient care and improves upon the previous state-of-the-art method of comparing a PET scan with a separate CT scan. Finally, the author presents some of the results from studies of PET/CT imaging that are beginning to appear in the literature.