Nuclear cardiology: an overview of radioisotope techniques used in the diagnostic workup of cardiovascular disorders.

Cardiovascular diseases are the most common cause of death in patients over 60 years old. Pivotal imaging modalities in cardiac diagnostic workup are echocardiography, magnetic resonance, multi‑row detector computed tomography, coronary angiography, and radioisotope tests. In this study, we summarize the techniques of nuclear medicine (positron emission tomography, single‑photon emission computed tomography, radionuclide ventriculography) that could be implemented in the cardiovascular diagnostic algorithms.

Accessory spleen mimicking pancreatic tumour: evaluation by 99mTc-labelled colloid SPECT/CT study. Report of two cases and a review of nuclear medicine methods utility.

The accessory spleen is a common congenital anomaly, typically asymptomatic and harmless to the patient. However, in some clinical cases, this anomaly beco-mes significant as it can be mistaken for a tumour or lymph node and be missed during a therapeutic splenectomy. There are nuclear medicine modalities which can be applied in the identification and localisation of an accessory spleen.

Bilateral coronary artery to pulmonary trunk fistulae detected by coronary angiography and evaluated by ECG-gated SPECT myocardial perfusion imaging: report of two cases.

Coronary artery fistulae (CAF) are anomalies related to coronary artery abnormal termination. This is a very rare congenital malformation accounting for about 0.2-0.

Complex Regional Pain Syndrome type I with atypical scintigraphic pattern--diagnosis and evaluation of the entity with three phase bone scintigraphy. A case report.

Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) is a neurological disorder of unknown etiology which may lead to severe disability. Its diagnosis is very difficult and based on diagnostic criteria which have been changing over last years. Still, there is no golden standard in diagnosis of this entity.

The usefulness of SPECT/CT in characterization of skeletal and soft tissue lesions--report of two cases.

SPECT/CT imaging provides detailed information on the radiotracer distribution and enables simultaneous lesion morphology evaluation. This hybrid imaging delivers complementary information about patient's disease. We present two cases in which SPECT/CT imaging and cooperation between the nuclear medicine physician and radiologist quickly clarified the diagnosis, sparing patient unnecessary diagnostic procedures or treatment.

Meteorological parameters and severity of acute pulmonary embolism episodes.

Frequency of acute pulmonary embolism episodes has been previously shown to correlate significantly with meteorological factors in the period preceding their occurrence. The purpose of the study was to analyze the relation of meteorological factors and the severity of acute pulmonary embolism, expressed by the CT-based pulmonary obstruction score. A retrospective analysis of medical data of 182 consecutive patients with acute pulmonary embolism diagnosed with CT pulmonary angiography was performed.

Low atmospheric pressure and humidity are related with more frequent pulmonary embolism episodes in male patients.

Pulmonary embolism is a frequent condition, related with high mortality. Frequency of pulmonary embolism episodes has been related with several meteorological factors. The aim of the study was to analyze the influence of meteorological factors on the occurrence of pulmonary embolism in male and female patients.