Nuclear medicine practice in Japan: a report of the seventh nationwide survey in 2012.

Objective: The Subcommittee on the Survey of Nuclear Medical Practice in Japan has performed a nationwide survey of nuclear medicine practice every 5 years since 1982 to survey contemporary nuclear medicine practice and its changes over the years.

Methods: The subcommittee sent questionnaires, including the number and category of examinations as well as the kind and dose of the radiopharmaceuticals during the 30 days of June 2012, to all the nuclear medicine institutes. The total numbers for the year 2012 were then estimated.

Unusual early bile excretion from the liver in patients with fulminant hepatic failure as detected by Tc-99m-PMT hepatobiliary scintigraphy; comparison with Tc-99m-GSA scintigraphy.

In two females (58 and 14 years old) with fulminant hepatic failure, Tc-99m-PMT hepatobiliary scintigraphy was used to evaluate intrahepatic bile stagnation, and Tc-99m-GSA scintigraphy to evaluate hepatic functional reserve. In both patients, Tc-99m-PMT hepatobiliary scintigraphy showed unusual early bile excretion into the extrahepatic bile duct and small intestine within the first 30 min of imaging. These findings contradicted typical findings of intrahepatic bile stagnation of fulminant hepatic failure.

Abnormal pulmonary accumulation of indium-111 chloride in pneumocystis carinii pneumonia as detected by bone marrow scintigraphy.

Purpose: Unusual pulmonary uptake of In-111 chloride in a patient with Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia and autoimmune hepatitis is described.

Method: In-111 chloride bone marrow scintigraphy was performed to evaluate the bone marrow activity associated with pancytopenia in a 56-year-old woman with autoimmune hepatitis.

Results: An In-111 chloride bone marrow scan showed increased pulmonary uptake predominantly in both upper lung fields.

[Assessment of a new non-invasive cerebral blood flow determination method using the brain uptake ratio of 99mTc-ECD].

We modified the method of calculating brain uptake ratio (BUR) reported previously, and devised a new non-invasive cerebral blood flow measurements for 99mTc-ECD that does not require blood sampling. This method yields BUR that is not influenced by the gamma camera type and the choice of acquisition-reconstruction conditions, when corrected by the SPECT/Planar cross calibration coefficient. A good correlation was observed between the BUR obtained by this method and the cerebral blood flow (CBF) obtained by the 123I-IMP continuous arterial blood sampling method.

[Effect of the skull on brain perfusion SPECT imaging].

Because attenuation gradually decreases reconstructed counts from the periphery to the center portion of the object, the deep region far from the detector is not clearly observed if attenuation is not compensated. In brain perfusion SPECT, diagnosis is sometimes made using filtered back projection images without attenuation compensation (FBP). Brain perfusion SPECT has the unique characteristic that the radiopharmaceutical accumulates only within the brain and is never taken up by the surrounding skull.

[Combined scatter and attenuation correction for 201Tl myocardial perfusion SPECT using OS-EM algorithm].

There are two possible ways to obtain scatter-corrected images with the ML-EM (maximum likelihood expectation maximization) algorithm: one is the subtraction of scatter estimate si from projection data pi, and then (pi-si) is used for scatter-corrected projection data (denoted as SC(T)); the other method is the addition of scatter estimate si to the projections calculated from the reconstructed image without performing data subtraction (SC(E)). This paper investigated these two ML-EM algorithms of combined scatter and attenuation correction on 201Tl myocardial perfusion SPECT imaging. Scatter windows were placed one full width at half maximum (FWHM) below and above the photopeak centerline.

[Preoperative evaluation of the limitation of hepatic resection using 99mTc-GSA (galactosyl human serum albumin) scintigraphy].

Unlabelled: Preoperative evaluation of the operative indication of hepatic resection using the parameters obtained by 99mTc-GSA scintigraphy has been done. In particular, the accurate evaluation of the postoperative hepatic functional reserve essentially depends on these parameters. In the present study, a preoperative evaluation of postoperative hepatic functional reserve using 99mTc-GSA scintigraphy was performed in our operated cases retrospectively.

[Can 99mTc-mercaptoacetyltriglycine (99mTc-MAG3) evaluate the renal function without blood sampling?: consensus report from multicenter study].

A multicenter study was undertaken in Japan to evaluate the correlation between the percentage of renal uptake of 99mTc-mercaptoacetyltriglycine (99mTc-MAG3) estimated by the count-based gamma camera method and the blood clearance of 99mTc-MAG3. Twenty four centers were enrolled and 172 cases were finally analyzed in this study. The renal clearance of 99mTc-MAG3 (TER) was obtained by using a single blood sample taken at 44 min after injection.

Precision of the gallbladder ejection fraction obtained with Tc-99m-pyridoxyl-5-methyl-tryptophan (99mTc-PMT) hepatobiliary scintigraphy as compared with the contraction ratio in three-dimensional computed tomography.

Unlabelled: The gallbladder ejection fraction (GBEF) obtained with Tc-99m-pyridoxyl-5-methyl-tryptophan (99mTc-PMT) hepatobiliary scintigraphy has been used as a parameter of gallbladder function. To determine the accuracy of GBEF, the relationship with the contraction ratio of the gallbladder (GBCR) obtained with three-dimensional helical computed tomography (3D-CT) was studied.

Patients And Methods: A normal volunteer, 8 patients suffering from cholecystolithiasis and a patient with gallbladder dyskinesia were examined.

[Proposal on new formulas for renal depth in the technetium-99m-mercaptoacetyltriglycine (MAG3) scintigraphy].

Unlabelled: Recently, camera-based techniques to measure effective renal plasma flow (ERPF) have become more popular than single plasma sample techniques because camera-based measurements avoid the necessity of delayed plasma samples and in vitro techniques. The measurements of ERPF are used to estimate the clearance of technetium-99m-mercaptoacetyltriglycine (MAG3). However, camera-based techniques are dependent on an accurate estimate of renal depth to correct for soft-tissue attenuation.

[Quantitative analysis of 99mTc-GSA liver scintigraphy with graphical plot method].

99mTc-galactosyl human serum albumin (99mTc-GSA) is a newly developed receptor-binding agent, specific for the asialoglycoprotein receptor, which resides exclusively on the plasma membrane of mammalian hepatocytes. Liver scintigraphy using 99mTc-GSA was performed on 65 patients with liver diseases. Dynamic data were obtained by gamma camera during 20 minutes after the intravenous injection of 3 mg (185 MBq) of 99mTc-GSA.

[Fast two-compartment model analysis with 99mTc-GSA liver scintigraphy].

The use of numerical integration method (N. INT) was evaluated in determining parameters by two-compartment model analysis from liver scintigraphy. Among the 15 subjects, 14 had liver cirrhosis or chronic hepatitis, and one was normal.

[A study of acquisition time using compartment analysis with 99mTc-GSA liver scintigraphy].

99mTc-galactosyl human serum albumin (99mTc-GSA) is a newly developed receptor-binding agent specific for the asialoglycoprotein receptor, which resides exclusively on the plasma membrane of mammalian hepatocytes. Liver scintigraphy using 99mTc-GSA was performed on 13 patients with liver disease. Dynamic data were obtained by gamma camera during 40 min after the intravenous injection of 3 mg (185 MBq) of 99mTc-GSA.

Using Ga-67 scintigraphy in prostatic abscess.

The use of Ga-67 scintigraphy (Ga) in prostate inflammatory diseases may be restricted by the difficulty in distinguishing between the accumulation of Ga-67-citrate (Ga-citrate) in the lesion and feces. The diagnosis of prostatic abscess has been mainly made by other radiologic methods without scintigraphic studies and no finding of Ga has been reported. This patient demonstrated that coordinating the findings of Ga-citrate accumulation can be helpful in making a prompt diagnosis of a possibly fatal prostatic abscess, especially in those patients with poorly defined clinical symptoms and high risk factors.

Evaluation of hepatic transport function by hepatobiliary scintigraphy.

The transport kinetics of [99mTc]-pyridoxyl-5-methyltryptophan were studied by three-compartment model analysis for hepatobiliary scintigraphy in 45 patients with chronic viral liver diseases. Three-compartment model analysis was studied using the time-activity curves of the regions of the heart, liver, and biliary tract and intestine (excretory compartment). The k12 (hepatic uptake rate constant), k21 (hepatic efflux rate constant), and ke1 (hepatic excretion rate constant) were calculated by the nonlinear least-squares method.