Severity of joint pain and Kellgren-Lawrence grade at baseline are better predictors of joint space narrowing than bone scintigraphy in obese women with knee osteoarthritis.

Objective: To compare the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) of a baseline late-phase bone scan and assessments of the radiographic and symptomatic severity of knee osteoarthritis (OA) at baseline as predictors of loss of articular cartilage thickness, as reflected in joint space narrowing (JSN) in the medial tibiofemoral compartment.

Methods: Subjects (174 obese women, 45-64 yrs of age, with unilateral knee OA) were a subset of a larger cohort who participated in a placebo controlled trial of a disease modifying OA drug. Uptake of technetium medronate (99mTc-MDP) in anteroposterior (AP) and lateral views of a late-phase bone scan was measured at baseline in a region of interest drawn around the medial tibia, and was adjusted for (i.

Inefficacy of F-18 fluorodeoxy-D-glucose-positron emission tomography scans for initial evaluation in early-stage cutaneous melanoma.

Background: The purpose of the current study was to determine the sensitivity and specificity of initial F-18 fluorodeoxy-D-glucose-positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) scanning for detection of occult lymph node and distant metastases in patients with early-stage cutaneous melanoma.

Methods: The authors conducted a prospective nonrandomized clinical trial. Inclusion criteria were patients with cutaneous melanoma tumors > 1.

Bone scintigraphy is not a better predictor of progression of knee osteoarthritis than Kellgren and Lawrence grade.

Objective: To determine the predictive value of bone scintigraphy with respect to joint space narrowing (JSN) in patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA), based on quantitative estimates of uptake of a bone-seeking radiopharmaceutical and fluoroscopically standardized knee radiography.

Methods: Our study group included 86 obese women, 45-64 years of age, with unilateral knee OA. Uptake of technetium medronate (99mTc-MDP) in late-phase bone scans was measured at baseline in 5 regions of interest (ROI: lateral femur, lateral tibia, medial femur, medial tibia, and patellofemoral joint) and was adjusted for uptake (i.

Melanoma patients evaluated by four different positron emission tomography reconstruction techniques.

One hundred and nineteen patients with malignant melanoma were studied using 2-[ F]-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose positron emission tomography (FDG PET). The images were reconstructed using ordered subset expectation maximization with and without attenuation correction and filtered backprojection with and without attenuation correction. The most probable draining lymph node chains were surgically explored and the tumour volume was quantified at histology.

FDG-PET sensitivity for melanoma lymph node metastases is dependent on tumor volume.

Background And Objectives: The purpose of this study is to determine the tumor volume threshold for successful positron emission tomography (PET) imaging of melanoma nodal metastases.

Methods: Review of a clinical series of patients who had FDG-PET imaging of regional lymph node basins followed by lymphadenectomy. Lymph node tumor volumes were calculated from direct measurements of metastatic nodule(s) in formalin fixed specimens.

Lymph node tumor volumes in patients undergoing sentinel lymph node biopsy for cutaneous melanoma.

Background: Regional lymph node tumor volumes in patients undergoing sentinel lymph node (SN) biopsy (SNB) for treatment of cutaneous melanoma have not been described. The objectives of this study were to describe the lymph node tumor volumes typically seen in this population and to correlate tumor volumes with tumor thickness and positive SN characteristics.

Methods: Review of a consecutive series of patients with clinically localized cutaneous melanoma who underwent SNB of nonpalpable regional lymph node basins followed by complete lymphadenectomy (LND) was performed.

Prospective study of fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography imaging of lymph node basins in melanoma patients undergoing sentinel node biopsy.

Purpose: To prospectively compare positron emission tomography (PET) imaging of regional lymph node basins to sentinel node biopsy (SNB) in patients with American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) stage I, II, and III melanoma localized to the skin.

Methods: Patients with cutaneous melanoma with Breslow's depth greater than 1 mm (AJCC T2-4N0M0) or localized regional cutaneous recurrence (TxN2bM0) underwent whole-body imaging of glucose metabolism with fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET followed by SNB. PET scans were interpreted in a blinded fashion and compared with histologic analyses of SNB specimens and clinical follow-up examination.

Scrotal pathology as the cause for hip pain. Diagnostic findings on bone scintigraphy.

Scrotal scintigraphy has become a relatively uncommon examination in many nuclear medicine departments. However, scrotal perfusion is visualized during three-phase bone imaging of the pelvis and hips. The authors present a compilation of three cases of hip pain secondary to unsuspected scrotal pathology documented on routine three-phase bone scintigraphy, discussing this topic for the first time in the literature.

Initial assessment of positron emission tomography for detection of nonpalpable regional lymphatic metastases in melanoma.

Background: The purpose of this pilot study is to determine the feasibility of positron emission tomography with fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG-PET) for detection of nonpalpable regional lymph node metastases in patients with melanoma.

Methods: Adult patients with histologically proven cutaneous melanoma planned to undergo surgical lymphadenectomy for treatment of nonpalpable subclinical or residual metastatic melanoma in regional lymph node basin(s) participated. Each patient underwent attenuation-corrected PET imaging of the regional lymph node basin(s) with F18 fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) followed by complete surgical lymphadenectomy.

Bone scintigraphy in the canine cruciate deficiency model of osteoarthritis. Comparison of the unstable and contralateral knee.

Objective: To examine the effects on 99mTc medronate (MDP) bone scintigraphy of unilateral anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) transection in the unstable and contralateral knee of dogs.

Methods: Bone scintigraphy was performed in 5 dogs at baseline and 6 and 12 weeks after ligament transection, with images of both knees obtained 3-4 h after intravenous injection of the radionuclide. An image of the T4-T5 vertebral region was also acquired as an internal standard.

Pulmonary emboli from pulse-spray and mechanical thrombolysis: evaluation with an animal dialysis-graft model.

Purpose: To compare pulmonary emboli resulting from pulse-spray pharmacomechanical thrombolysis (PSPMT) and mechanical thrombolysis performed to declot dialysis-access grafts.

Materials And Methods: Polytetrafluoroethylene arteriovenous shunts were created in eight dogs and were deliberately clotted at monthly intervals. Animals were randomly assigned to treatment with pulse-spray urokinase thrombolysis or a low-speed rotational percutaneous thrombolytic device.

Differentiation of infected from noninfected rapidly progressive neuropathic osteoarthropathy.

Differentiation of infected from noninfected rapidly progressive neuropathic osteoarthropathy can be difficult in a combined bone/111In-leukocyte study. We present two cases: one infected and one not infected. By examining the distribution of the 111In leukocyte activity and the change in the lesion-to-background ratios from the 4-hr to the 24-hr image, it may be possible to determine if the rapidly progressive neuropathic osteoarthropathy is infected.

Regional and arterial localization of radioactive microparticles after local delivery by unsupported or supported porous balloon catheters.

Catheter-mediated intramural delivery of pharmaceutical agents after angioplasty is a potential method to reduce postangioplasty restenosis. The efficacy of such delivery has been limited both by an incomplete initial intramural deposition of delivered agents and by rapid diffusion of soluble agents from the site of delivery. The local delivery of microparticulate agents results in prolonged retention of material at the delivery site.

Symptom-limited arm exercise increases detection of ischemia during dipyridamole tomographic thallium stress testing in patients with coronary artery disease.

Exercise combined with dipyridamole during thallium stress testing in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) increases the frequency of angina and ischemic ST changes in the electrocardiogram. Evidence for an increase in thallium abnormalities has been inconclusive. We prospectively examined 54 consecutive patients who underwent coronary angiography and tomographic thallium with dipyridamole (0.

Direct comparison of fluorine-18-FDG SPECT, fluorine-18-FDG PET and rest thallium-201 SPECT for detection of myocardial viability.

Unlabelled: Twenty consecutive patients were evaluated for presumptive myocardial viability using rest TI-SPECT, FDG-PET and FDG-SPECT. The FDG studies were performed after rest TI-SPECT to guide intervention or medical management.

Methods: Twenty patients with proven coronary artery disease, either known or suspected to have previous myocardial infarction and persistent perfusion defects shown by rest reinjection TI-SPECT, underwent FDG-PET and subsequent FDG-SPECT with a three-detector SPECT camera.

Comparison of gallbladder ejection fraction with histopathologic changes in acalculous biliary disease.

This selective retrospective study was undertaken to establish whether the gallbladder contraction (ejection fraction) calculated during cholescintigraphy correlates with the histopathologic changes in the surgical specimen. The medical records of 243 patients who underwent hepatobiliary scintigraphy were reviewed. Of these, 215 patients had cholecystokinin cholescintigraphy and 100 went on to cholecystectomy.

The scintigraphic diagnosis of osteomyelitis.

Osteomyelitis is a serious health problem that results in multiple limb amputations annually. This article reviews the current scintigraphic procedures used in the diagnosis of osteomyelitis and discusses some of the newer radiopharmaceuticals now being developed. The goal is to understand the strengths and weaknesses of each method so that the procedure most effective for specific clinical settings can be selected.