Treatment Response Evaluation in Necrotizing Otitis Externa Using 18 F-FDG-PET Imaging.

Objective: This study aims to identify 18 F-FDG-PET imaging features for improving treatment response evaluation in patients with necrotizing otitis externa (NOE), aiding in the difficult differentiation between sterile inflammation and active infection.

Study Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Setting: Tertiary hospital.

When Limb Surgery Has Become the Only Life-Saving Therapy in FOP: A Case Report and Systematic Review of the Literature.

Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP) is a rare disease in which heterotopic ossification (HO) is formed in muscles, tendons and ligaments. Traumatic events, including surgery, are discouraged as this is known to trigger a flare-up with risk of subsequent HO. Anesthetic management for patients with FOP is challenging.

The added value of SPECT-CT for the identification of sentinel lymph nodes in early stage oral cancer.

Purpose: To assess the role of single-photon emission computed tomography with computed tomography (SPECT-CT) for the identification of sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) in patients with early stage (T1-T2) oral cancer and a clinically negative neck (cN0).

Methods: In addition to planar lymphoscintigraphy, SPECT-CT was performed in 66 consecutive patients with early stage oral cancer and a clinically negative neck. The addition of SPECT-CT to planar images was retrospectively analyzed for the number of additional SLNs, more precise localization of SLNs, and importance of anatomical information by a team consisting of a nuclear physician, surgeon, and investigator.

Two tissue-resident progenitor lineages drive distinct phenotypes of heterotopic ossification.

Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP), a congenital heterotopic ossification (HO) syndrome caused by gain-of-function mutations of bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) type I receptor ACVR1, manifests with progressive ossification of skeletal muscles, tendons, ligaments, and joints. In this disease, HO can occur in discrete flares, often triggered by injury or inflammation, or may progress incrementally without identified triggers. Mice harboring an Acvr1 knock-in allele recapitulate the phenotypic spectrum of FOP, including injury-responsive intramuscular HO and spontaneous articular, tendon, and ligament ossification.

MIBG scans in patients with stage 4 neuroblastoma reveal two metastatic patterns, one is associated with MYCN amplification and in MYCN-amplified tumours correlates with a better prognosis.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to find clinically relevant MIBG-avid metastatic patterns in patients with newly diagnosed stage 4 neuroblastoma.

Methods: Diagnostic (123)I-MIBG scans from 249 patients (123 from a European and 126 from the COG cohort) were assessed for metastatic spread in 14 body segments and the form of the lesions: "focal" (clear margins distinguishable from adjacent background) or "diffuse" (indistinct margins, dispersed throughout the body segment). The total numbers of diffuse and focal lesions were recorded.

Practice variation in defining sentinel lymph nodes on lymphoscintigrams in oral cancer patients.

Purpose: Lymphoscintigraphic imaging and adequate interpretation of the lymphatic drainage pattern is an essential step in the sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) procedure. In oral cancer, identification of the sentinel lymph node (SLN) can be challenging. In this study, interobserver variability in defining SLNs on lymphoscintigrams was evaluated in patients with T1-T2 stage N0 oral cancer.

Sentinel node biopsy for early-stage oral cavity cancer: the VU University Medical Center experience.

Background: Sentinel node biopsy (SNB) in head and neck cancer is recently introduced as the staging technique of oral squamous cell carcinoma. We report the results of SNB in patients diagnosed with a T1-T2 oral squamous cell carcinoma and clinically negative (N0) neck in a single center.

Methods: A retrospective analysis of 90 previously untreated patients who underwent SNB between 2007 and 2012 was performed.

Pilot study on the feasibility of PET/CT lymphoscintigraphy with 89Zr-nanocolloidal albumin for sentinel node identification in oral cancer patients.

Unlabelled: With conventional imaging techniques such as planar lymphoscintigraphy and SPECT/CT, preoperative sentinel node (SN) identification can be difficult when the SN is near the primary tumor, as is the case in floor-of-mouth carcinomas. PET/CT lymphoscintigraphy may improve the detection and localization of such SNs.

Methods: In this study, the clinical feasibility of PET/CT lymphoscintigraphy using (89)Zr-nanocolloidal albumin was evaluated in 5 oral cancer patients.

Sentinel node identification in laryngeal cancer: Feasible in primary cancer with previously untreated neck.

Objectives: With the current diagnostic techniques a considerable percentage of occult lymph node metastases are missed in the clinically negative (cN0) neck. Therefore, in patients with laryngeal cancer and cN0 neck a total laryngectomy is usually combined with elective neck dissection. Based on the risk of occult lymph node metastases the decision whether to perform a neck dissection or not is difficult.

Visualization of the sentinel node in early-stage oral cancer: limited value of late static lymphoscintigraphy.

Objective: Various lymphoscintigraphic imaging protocols exist for sentinel node (SN) identification in early-stage oral cancer. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical value of performing additional late lymphoscintigraphic imaging.

Methods: We retrospectively analysed early (directly following injection of 99mTc-Nanocoll) and late (2-4 h after injection) imaging results of 60 early-stage (T1-T2, cN0) oral cancer patients scheduled for SN procedure.

Sentinel node biopsy for oral and oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma in the previously treated neck.

In patients with early stage oral or oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) sentinel node biopsy (SNB) is a reliable method to detect occult disease in the neck. However, patients with a history of surgery or radiotherapy in the neck may have aberrant lymphatic drainage caused by disruption of lymphatic channels. Therefore, treatment of the same levels at risk as in the primary setting may not be appropriate.

Gastric emptying, glucose metabolism and gut hormones: evaluation of a common preoperative carbohydrate beverage.

Objective: To study the gastric-emptying rate and gut hormonal response of two carbohydrate-rich beverages. A specifically designed carbohydrate-rich beverage is currently used to support the surgical patient metabolically. Fruit-based beverages may also promote recovery, due to natural antioxidant and carbohydrate content.

Acquisition settings for PET of 124I administered simultaneously with therapeutic amounts of 131I.

Unlabelled: Radiation dosimetry of thyroid cancer therapy with 131I can be performed by coadministration of 124I followed by longitudinal PET scans over several days. The photons emitted by 131I may affect PET image quality. The aim of this study was to assess the influence of large amounts of 131I on PET image quality and accuracy with various acquisition settings.

The value of nuclear scans in cochlear implant infections.

We discuss the diagnostic value of nuclear scintigraphy in the management of infections after cochlear implantation. A 56-year-old female (Case 1) and a 46-year-old female (Case 2) developed complaints of diffuse headache, 4 and 5 months after cochlear implantation, without other signs of infection during examination, laboratorial testing and initial computed tomography. In Case 1 we performed a technetium 99 m-difosfate scintigraphy, which showed an increased uptake in the right petrosal bone, suggestive of chronic osteomyelitis.

Giant liver hemangioma in three sisters.

We describe a patient, in whom giant liver hemangioma (GLH) was found by ultrasound study in screening for hypertension. Two of her sisters also had GLH. One of them had become symptomatic and the hemangioma was successfully removed.