Feasibility of dual-phase Tc-MDP SPECT/CT imaging in rheumatoid arthritis evaluation.

Background: To prospectively demonstrate the feasibility of performing dual-phase SPECT/CT for the assessment of the small joints of the hands of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients, and to evaluate the reliability of the quantitative and qualitative measures derived from the resulting images.

Methods: A SPECT/CT imaging protocol was developed in this pilot study to scan both hands simultaneously in participants with RA, in two phases of Tc-MDP radiotracer uptake, namely the soft-tissue blood pool phase (within 15 minutes after radiotracer injection) and osseous phase (after 3 hours). Joints were evaluated qualitatively (normal abnormal uptake) and quantitatively [by measuring a newly developed metric, maximum corrected count ratio (MCCR)].

Nasal Dorsal Augmentation with Freeze-Dried Allograft Bone: 10-Year Comprehensive Review.

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate freeze-dried cortical allograft bone for nasal dorsal augmentation. The 42-month report on 18 patients was published in 2009 in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery with 89 percent success at level II evidence, and this article is the 10-year comprehensive review of 62 patients.

Methods: All grafts met standards recommended by the American Association of Tissue Banks, the U.

Early and Delayed 99mTc-MDP SPECT/CT Findings in Rheumatoid Arthritis and Osteoarthritis.

We report the case of a 74-year-old man with seropositive rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and radiographic osteoarthritis (OA) who underwent dual-phase high-resolution Tc-MDP SPECT/CT. Early radiotracer enhancement was noted in 2 RA joints of the right hand, both presenting with a ring-like uptake pattern around the joint, consistent with synovitis. Insignificant early enhancement was noted at the first carpometacarpal joint, despite presentation of CT features of OA.

Evaluation of penalty design in penalized maximum-likelihood image reconstruction for lesion detection.

Detecting cancerous lesions is a major clinical application in emission tomography. Previously, we developed a method to design a shift-variant quadratic penalty function in penalized maximum-likelihood (PML) image reconstruction to improve the lesion detectability. We used a multiview channelized Hotelling observer (mvCHO) to assess the lesion detectability in three-dimensional images and validated the penalty design using computer simulations.

Nasal dorsal augmentation with freeze-dried allograft bone.

Background: Properly prepared freeze-dried bone has been used with impunity by orthopedic surgeons since 1992 without a single report of disease transmission. The aim of this study was to evaluate freeze-dried cortical allograft bone for nasal dorsal augmentation.

Methods: Freeze-dried human cortical bone was obtained from DCI Donor Services, Nashville, Tennessee.