Blood volume determination, a nuclear medicine test in evolution.

The method for determining blood volume has evolved substantially since first attempts were made in the latter part of the nineteenth century with the exsanguination of animals. The now accepted methods are based on indicator dilution methodologies. First attempts utilized inert dyes such as Evans Blue and Cardiogreen.

Hyperparathyroidism accompanying multiple myeloma.

Hypercalcemia is a manifestation of a variety of both benign and malignant diseases. These conditions are not mutually exclusive, and we present a case report of a patient first diagnosed with the classic findings of multiple myeloma who, after appropriate therapy, demonstrated persistent hypercalcemia and was found on further testing to have an elevated parathormone level (PTH) and scintigraphic evidence of a benign parathyroid adenoma. Hypercalcemia responded to excision of the parathyroid adenoma.

Chemotherapy-induced pericarditis on F-18 FDG positron emission tomography scan.

F-18 FDG positron emission tomography (PET) is a highly valuable imaging tool in evaluation and follow up of lymphoma and many other malignancies. Constrictive or effusive constrictive pericarditis is an uncommon complication of chemotherapy. The authors report a case in which pericardial FDG uptake was seen on a whole-body PET scan performed for posttreatment follow-up evaluation for a mantle cell lymphoma.

Quantitative Brain PET. Comparison of 2D and 3D Acquisitions on the GE Advance Scanner.

PURPOSE: Recent developments in the design of positron emission tomography (PET) scanners have made three-dimensional (3D) data acquisition attractive because of significantly higher sensitivity compared to the conventional 2D mode (with lead/tungsten septa extended). However, the increased count rate in 3D mode comes at the cost of increased scatter, randoms, and dead time. Several schemes to correct for these effects have been proposed and validated in phantom studies.

Opioids prolong nuclear hepatobiliary imaging when given prior to scanning.

Opioid-mediated contraction of the distal common bile duct (CBD) may delay tracer passage during nuclear hepatobiliary imaging (NHI), mimicking pathologic obstruction. We sought to determine if opioid administration before NHI delays CBD visualization and prolongs imaging. The records of 198 Emergency Department patients who underwent NHI were reviewed (after excluding those with evidence for pathologic CBD obstruction).

Outcome and toxicity associated with maximum safe dose radioiodine treatment of metastatic thyroid cancer.

Purpose: This study was designed to determine the outcomes of patients referred to the authors' nuclear medicine service for dosimetric evaluation and treatment of metastatic thyroid cancer with radioiodine I-131. In addition, the incidence and severity of hematologic toxicity associated with treatment were determined.

Methods: A retrospective review of patients referred for dosimetric evaluation was undertaken for the years 1984 to 2000.

A new method to measure thyroid uptake with a gamma camera without routine use of a standard source.

Purpose: This study was designed to validate a reliable gamma camera-based method for measuring thyroid uptake. The method is based on a stable calibration procedure and does not require daily use of a standard source. In addition, the method is designed to overcome deadtime losses inherent in uptake probe measurements with iodine-123.

Radiosynthesis of [18F] N-3-fluoropropyl-2-beta-carbomethoxy-3-beta-(4-iodophenyl) nortropane and the first human study with positron emission tomography.

A procedure for the routine preparation of [18F]FP-CIT has been developed. Purification of the final product was achieved by preparative HPLC using phenethyl column without decomposition or epimerization. [18F] labeled-N-fluoropropyl-2 beta-carbomethoxy-3 beta-(4-iodophenyl) nortropane was prepared and PET imaging was performed on human subjects.

Bladder wall radiation dose in humans from fluorine-18-FDOPA.

Unlabelled: PET, in conjunction with 18F-fluorodopa (FDOPA), has become the standard technique to assess basal ganglia degeneration in patients with movement disorders. Based on published dosimetry data, the injected dose of FDOPA is limited to 111 Mbq (3 mCi) because of exposure to the bladder wall, which is the critical organ for such studies. These dosimetry studies are based on mathematical models for the bladder radioactivity accumulation and clearance when the subjects were asked to void approximately 2 hr after the intravenous injection of FDOPA.

Assessment of disease severity in parkinsonism with fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose and PET.

Unlabelled: Fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) and PET have been used to identify an abnormal regional metabolic covariance pattern in Parkinson's disease (PD). To examine the potential use of this covariance pattern as a metabolic imaging marker for PD, we describe the Topographic Profile Rating (TPR), which is a method for calculating subject scores for this pattern in individual PD patients. We then assess the relationship between these metabolic measures and objective independent disease severity ratings.

Scintigraphic cerebral spinal fluid leak study in a child with recurrent meningitis after resection of a frontal meningocele.

An In-111 DTPA cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak study was performed on a 3-year-old boy admitted with recurrent meningitis. He was born with a congenital encephalocele that was surgically resected at 7 days-of-age. A residual skull floor defect with a recurrent tumor of the nasal radix was clinically suspected.

Hepatobiliary scintigraphy after biliary tract surgery.

Hepatobiliary scintigraphy provides a rapid, noninvasive, accurate means of assessing patients after biliary tract surgery. This is especially important, given the high incidence of biliary and enteric diseases. In this review article, the role of radionuclide imaging in postcholecystectomy and postgastroenteric surgery patients will be examined, as well as following invasive procedures and trauma.

Quantitative brain FDG/PET studies using dynamic aortic imaging.

Positron emission tomography (PET) measurements of cerebral glucose utilization using 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) are a useful tool in the investigation of localized brain function in normal and disease states. A major impediment to the application of FDG/PET in clinical investigation has been the need for arterial blood sampling to quantify cerebral glucose metabolism (CMRGlc). Qualitative studies, though informative in a variety of clinical settings, are of limited value for research applications and do not utilize the inherent quantitative nature of PET.

The metabolic topography of parkinsonism.

We used [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose/positron emission tomography (18F-FDG/PET) and a statistical model of regional covariation to study brain topographic organization in parkinsonism. We studied 22 patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), 20 age-matched normal volunteers, and 10 age- and severity-matched patients with presumed striatonigral degeneration (SND). We used FDG/PET to calculate global, regional, and normalized metabolic rates for glucose (GMR, rCMRglc, rCMRglc/GMR).

Striatal 18F-dopa uptake: absence of an aging effect.

L-[18F]6-Fluoro-DOPA (L-[18F]6-fluoro-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine; FDOPA) has been used with quantitative positron emission tomography (PET) to assess presynaptic nigrostriatal dopaminergic function in life. The relationship of estimated kinetic rate constants for striatal FDOPA uptake [Ki(FDOPA)] to the normal aging process has been the subject of conflicting reports. Resolution of this issue has been hampered by methodological differences in previous FDOPA/PET investigations.

Positron emission tomographic findings in Filipino X-linked dystonia-parkinsonism.

Regional and global metabolic rates for glucose (rCMRGlc and GMR) were estimated using [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose and positron emission tomography in 3 patients with Filipino X-linked dystonia-parkinsonism (lubag). In all 3 patients a selective reduction in normalized striatal glucose metabolism (rCMRGlc/GMR) was observed compared with 15 normal volunteer subjects. Presynaptic nigrostriatal function was assessed in these patients using [18F]fluorodopa and positron emission tomography.

Noninvasive quantitative fluorodeoxyglucose PET studies with an estimated input function derived from a population-based arterial blood curve.

The authors have developed a technique to estimate input functions from a population-based arterial blood curve in positron emission tomography (PET) studies with fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG). A standardized pump injection was used in 34 subjects. A population-based blood curve was generated based on the first 10 subjects.

Striatal hypometabolism distinguishes striatonigral degeneration from Parkinson's disease.

Regional and global metabolic rates for glucose were estimated using 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose and positron emission tomography in 10 patients with a clinical likelihood of striatonigral degeneration (2 men and 8 women; mean age, 61.8 +/- 6.9 years; mean disease duration, 4.

Postoperative radioactive iodine evaluation of total thyroidectomy for thyroid carcinoma: reappraisal and therapeutic implications.

The records of 430 patients who underwent total thyroidectomy with radioactive iodine (RAI) uptake studies performed postoperatively were reviewed. Indications for the administration of an ablative dose of iodine 131 are given. The majority (85.