A comparison of the image quality of full-time myocardial perfusion SPECT vs wide beam reconstruction half-time and half-dose SPECT.

Objectives: Wide Beam Reconstruction (WBR) (UltraSPECT, Ltd) uses resolution recovery and noise modeling to cope with decreased SPECT count statistics. Because WBR processing reconstructs half the usual SPECT count statistics, we postulate that image quality equivalent to a full-time acquisition can be achieved in either half the time or with half the radiopharmaceutical activity.

Methods: In 156 consecutive patients (pts) rest and 8-frame gated post-stress myocardial perfusion SPECT was performed following 333-444 and 1184-1480 MBq (9-12 and 32-40 mCi) Tc-99m sestamibi injections, respectively, with full-time (rest = 14 min; stress = 12.

Follicular variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma presenting as a toxic nodule by I-123 scintigraphy.

The risk of malignancy in a "hot" thyroid nodule detected by radioiodine scintigraphy is rare. We report a case of a 63-year-old man with a hyperfunctioning nodule demonstrated by radioiodine scintigraphy and cytology suspicious for follicular variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma (FVPTC). There were no locoregional or distant metastases at initial diagnosis.

Spontaneous transition of an autonomously functioning thyroid adenoma to Graves' disease.

We report a case of a 57-year-old postmenopausal woman with an autonomously functioning thyroid adenoma spontaneously developing Graves' disease (GD) as documented by I-123 scintigraphy. To date, anecdotal case reports citing the progression of an autonomous nodule to GD have documented either a major thyroidal insult, spontaneous or therapeutic, or the activation of thyroid tissue by circulating thyroid stimulating IgG, with variable progression characteristics. In contradiction to the proposed inciting factors, our patient underwent a minimally invasive fine needle aspiration biopsy followed by suppressive pharmacotherapy.

Effect of proton pump inhibitors and H2 antagonists on the stomach wall in 99mTc-sestamibi cardiac imaging.

Unlabelled: On the basis of previously unpublished observations, we hypothesized that prolonged use of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) causes an increase in (99m)Tc-sestamibi uptake in the stomach wall, manifested as curvilinear activity surrounding the photopenic fundus of the stomach cavity. We prospectively evaluated the frequency of stomach wall uptake in patients undergoing myocardial perfusion SPECT who were taking PPIs or H(2) antagonists.

Methods: Patients (n = 138) who were scheduled for single-day rest/stress (99m)Tc-sestamibi SPECT were randomly selected.

Wide beam reconstruction "quarter-time" gated myocardial perfusion SPECT functional imaging: a comparison to "full-time" ordered subset expectation maximum.

Background: Previously we reported that compared to iterative reconstruction with ordered subset expectation maximum (OSEM), wide beam reconstruction (WBR), which incorporates resolution recovery and controls noise during reconstruction without applying a post-processing filter, allows half-time SPECT acquisition with preserved diagnostic quality. We now postulate that with further Poisson noise treatment, quarter-time acquisition is possible.

Methods: The half-time WBR algorithm was optimized for quarter-time acquisition based upon anthropomorphic cardiac phantom data and a pilot group of 48 patients (pts).

HIV-associated lymphocytic interstitial pneumonitis causes diffuse sestamibi lung uptake in myocardial perfusion imaging.

Technetium-99m ((99m)Tc) sestamibi myocardial perfusion scintigraphy (MPI) is widely used for the diagnosis and assessment of prognosis in patients with suspected coronary artery disease. During these investigations, inspection of raw projected data for the purpose of quality control may occasionally yield incidental noncardiac findings that suggest the presence of another primary noncardiac disease. We present a 66-year-old HIV patient with a tissue diagnosis of lymphoid interstitial pneumonitis (LIP), who demonstrated a diffuse increase of (99m)Tc sestamibi in bilateral lung fields both in rest and stress MPI.

FDG PET Appearance of "Cannonball" Pulmonary Metastases.

We present the case of a 67-year-old woman with a recent tissue diagnosis of endometrial cancer whose FDG PET scan exhibited multiple hypermetabolic foci through out both the lungs. Contemporaneously acquired conventional radiolographs showed parenchymal nodules that demonstrated the classic "cannon ball" appearance of pulmonary metastases. Pulmonary metastasis from an endometrial primary is a rare event, as are the presence of pulmonary findings at the time of initial staging.