SUV navigator enables rapid [F]-FDG PET/CT image interpretation compared with 2D ROI and 3D VOI evaluations.

Purpose: Positron emission tomography (PET) and the maximum standardized uptake value (SUV) is a useful technique for assessing malignant tumors. Measurements of SUV in multiple lesions per patient frequently require many time-consuming procedures. To address this issue, we designed a novel interface named SUV Navigator (SUVnavi), and the purpose of this study was to investigate its utility.

Late gadolinium enhancement on cardiac magnetic resonance represents the depolarizing and repolarizing electrically damaged foci causing malignant ventricular arrhythmia in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Background: The presence of a myocardial scar detected by late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) on cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) has been described as a predictor of all-cause mortality in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). However, the detailed spatial relationship between LGE site and electrical abnormality is unclear in high-risk HCM with malignant arrhythmia.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to elucidate the detailed relationship between the site on CMR imaging and the electrically damaged site, a potential origin of ventricular arrhythmias in patients with HCM.

Dual-time-point F-18 FDG PET/CT imaging for differentiating the lymph nodes between malignant lymphoma and benign lesions.

Purpose: The purpose of the present study is to evaluate the clinical value of dual-time-point F-18 FDG PET/CT imaging to differentiate malignant lymphoma (ML) from benign lymph node (BLN).

Materials And Methods: The subjects were 310 lymph nodes in 84 patients (195 ML lesions in 30 patients and 115 BLN in 54 patients associated with various etiologies.).

"Hot" vertebra on (18)F-FDG PET scan: a case of vertebral hemangioma.

An F-FDG-PET with CT scan was performed to stage a tongue cancer, revealing the hypermetabolic region in the thoracic vertebra. This corresponded to a benign lesion seen on MRIs and CT.Although these findings suggested a vertebral hemangioma, "hot" vertebra in FDG-PET was atypical.

Pulmonary lymphatic drainage to the mediastinum based on computed tomographic observations of the primary complex of pulmonary histoplasmosis.

Background: In the primary infection of pulmonary histoplasmosis, pulmonary lesions are commonly solitary and associated with hilar and/or mediastinal nodal diseases, which spontaneously resolve, resulting in calcifications in individuals with normal cellular immunity.

Purpose: To assess the lymphatic drainage to the mediastinum from each pulmonary segment and lobe using computed tomographic (CT) observations of a calcified primary complex pulmonary histoplasmosis and predict which patients with N2 disease that would benefit from surgery.

Material And Methods: We collected 585 CT studies of patients with primary complex histoplasmosis consisting of solitary calcified pulmonary lesions and calcified hilar and/or mediastinal nodal disease.

Effect of ageing and pulmonary inflammation on the incidence and number of cross-bridging structures in pneumothorax patients.

Background: There is an improved prognosis for T4 non-small-cell lung cancer in patients who show particular patterns of direct mediastinal invasion. The particular patterns suggest the presence of direct pathways other than the pulmonary hilum between each of the lungs and the mediastinum/chest wall.

Purpose: To determine the incidence and number of such direct pathways in pneumothorax patients as well as the factors that affect the development of these pathways.

Absent skeletal uptake of (99m)Tc-hydroxymethylene diphosphonate in the presence of AL-type amyloidosis associated with multiple myeloma.

A 66-year-old woman with congestive heart failure suspected to have multiple myeloma underwent bone scintigraphy. The bone scintigraphy using technetium-99m hydroxymethylene-diphosphonate showed the following interesting findings: absent skeletal uptake; increased gastrointestinal, myocardial, and soft tissue uptake; migration of radionuclide to bilateral pleural effusions. Histopathological examination revealed that the patient suffered from AL-type amyloidosis associated with multiple myeloma.

Potential direct communication of the lung to the mediastinum: computed tomographic evaluation of pulmonary venous connections.

Purpose: We hypothesized that the remnant of the primitive pulmonary venous plexus in the embryo provides a pathway for direct communication from each lobe of the lung to the mediastinum. We assessed the presence and location of these connections by using 64-row multidetector computed tomography (CT).

Materials And Methods: This study was approved by the institutional ethics committee.

Spinal metastasis from lung cancer fifteen years after surgery presenting a pseudohemangioma appearance of the vertebra: a case report.

Study Design: Case report.

Objective: To describe a case of solitary metastasis of the seventh thoracic vertebra (T7) from lung cancer 15 years after surgery.

Summary Of Background Data: Late recurrence of the bone over 5 years after curative surgery for lung cancer is highly exceptional.

Imaging a pancreatic carcinoma xenograft model with 11C-acetate: a comparison study with 18F-FDG.

Purpose: Pancreatic carcinoma is a malignant tumor with poor prognosis and its early detection is still a clinical problem. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of carbon-11-labeled acetate (11C-acetate)-positron emission tomography (PET) for the detection of pancreatic carcinoma in a BxPC-3 human pancreatic carcinoma xenograft-bearing immunodeficiency BALB/c-nu nude mice model.

Methods: Whole-body 11C-acetate and fluorine-18-labeled fluorodeoxyglucose (F-FDG) micro-PET imaging were performed weekly on BxPC-3 human pancreatic carcinoma xenograft-bearing BALB/c-nu nude mice from the 2nd week after tumor cell inoculation.

Transient brain hyperperfusion detected with I-123 IMP SPECT in a patient with neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus.

We report the case of a 25-year-old woman with systemic lupus erythematosus. She complained of headache and left hemiparesis and was admitted to our hospital. She was in a coma after admission.

Cerebral control of bladder storage in patients with detrusor overactivity.

Objective: To identify the brain areas that control bladder storage by technetium-99m hexamethylpropyleneamine oxime single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) with the Neurological Statistical Image Analysis software (NEUROSTAT) in patients with detrusor overactivity (DO).

Methods: SPECT scans were performed on 19 patients with DO. Eight patients with normal detrusor function, who had some storage symptoms of the lower urinary tract as the patients with DO, also had a SPECT scan, as controls.

VIBE MRI for evaluating the normal and abnormal gastrointestinal tract in fetuses.

Objective: The great potential of MRI for assessing gastrointestinal abnormalities in fetuses has been described. T1-weighted images may add additional information to T2-weighted images in diagnosing fetal gastrointestinal abnormalities. The objective of this study was to assess the performance of a 3D volumetric interpolated breath-hold sequence (VIBE) in evaluating the normal and abnormal fetal gastrointestinal tract.

A compartment model analysis for investigation of myocardial fatty acid metabolism in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the myocardial fatty acid metabolism in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) from dynamic SPECT through a compartment model analysis.

Methods: Twenty-four normal controls, seven patients with left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) due to essential hypertension (eHT), and 30 patients with HCM were studied. 123I-BMIPP and 99mTc-tetrofosmin SPECT were performed.

Solitary fibrous tumor of the pleura: apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) value and ADC map to predict malignant transformation.

Solitary fibrous tumors (SFTs) of the pleura are rare soft-tissue tumors that are presumed to be of mesenchymal origin. Most SFTs are histologically benign, but up to 20% of SFTs may be malignant. In addition, malignant transformation may occur within histologically benign SFTs, though it is rare.

Acute rhabdomyolysis of the soleus muscle induced by a lightning strike: magnetic resonance and scintigraphic findings.

Among natural disasters, a lightning strike is a rare but potentially life-threatening phenomenon. If victims survive a cardiac arrest due to instantaneous passage of an exceptionally high voltage electric charge through the whole body, they may be afflicted with various complications such as muscle necrosis resulting in acute renal failure. In this article, we report a case of a 54-year-old man with acute rhabdomyolysis of the left soleus muscle associated with a lightning strike.

Thymic hyperplasia and thymus gland tumors: differentiation with chemical shift MR imaging.

Purpose: To prospectively evaluate chemical shift magnetic resonance (MR) imaging for differentiating thymic hyperplasia from tumors of the thymus gland.

Materials And Methods: The institutional review board approved this study; informed consent was obtained and patient confidentiality was protected. The authors assessed 41 patients (17 male, 24 female; age range, 16-78 years) in whom thymic lesions were seen at chest computed tomography.

Cerebral activation during withholding urine with full bladder in healthy men using 99mTc-HMPAO SPECT.

Unlabelled: The aim of this study was to identify the brain areas that control urinary continence in healthy men by 99mTc-hexamethylpropyleneamine oxime (99mTc-HMPAO) SPECT.

Methods: SPECT scans were performed on 15 right-handed healthy male volunteers, 24-45 y old. Each subject was scanned twice without movement in a supine position, and 444 and 555 MBq 99mTc-HMPAO were separately injected intravenously during the following 2 conditions: resting state with an empty bladder and urine-withholding state with a full bladder.

[Survey and analysis of radiation safety management systems at medical institutions--second report: radiation measurement, calibration of radiation survey meters, and periodic check of installations, equipment, and protection instruments].

We carried out a questionnaire survey to determine the actual situation of radiation safety management measures in all medical institutions in Japan that had nuclear medicine facilities. The questionnaire consisted of questions concerning the evaluation of shielding capacity; radiation measurement; periodic checks of installations, equipment, and protection instruments; and the calibration of radiation survey meters. The analysis was undertaken according to region, type of establishment, and number of beds.

Three-dimensional magnetic resonance imaging after ultrasonography for assessment of fetal gastroschisis.

A 24-year-old woman (Gravida I, Para I) at estimated 32 weeks of pregnancy was referred to our department for evaluation of a suspected fetal gastroschisis. Ultrasound scan revealed multiple loops of dilated bowel outside the fetal abdomen and absence of membrane surrounding the herniated loops of the intestines. Three-dimensional (3D) magnetic resonance imaging was performed to obtain more information on the bowel both outside and inside the abdomen.

[Survey and analysis of radiation safety management systems at medical institutions--initial report: radiation protection supervisor, radiation safety organization, and education and training].

In this study, a questionnaire survey was carried out to determine the actual situation of radiation safety management systems in Japanese medical institutions with nuclear medicine facilities. The questionnaire consisted of questions concerning the Radiation Protection Supervisor license, safety management organizations, and problems related to education and training in safety management. Analysis was conducted according to region, type of establishment, and number of beds.

Evaluation of normal fatty replacement of the thymus with chemical-shift MR imaging for identification of the normal thymus.

Purpose: To clarify the influences of age and gender on normal fatty replacement of the thymus in childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood using chemical-shift MRI.

Materials And Methods: A total of 95 normal subjects (52 males and 43 females, mean age = 15.6 years, range = 7-25 years) who underwent chemical-shift MRI of the thymus were assessed prospectively.

Renal artery stenosis emerged after angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor treatment for myocardial infarction: a case report.

A 76-year-old woman with acute myocardial infarction underwent percutaneous coronary angioplasty followed by treatment with an angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor, lisinopril. Her renal function deteriorated after the administration of lisinopril, so it was changed to another ACE inhibitor, temocapril. Renography suggested a complication of severe right renal artery stenosis, and renal angiography revealed bilateral renal artery stenoses.

Impaired cardiac sympathetic nerve function in patients with Kawasaki disease: comparison with myocardial perfusion.

Kawasaki disease (KD) is a leading cause of CAD in children. The impairment of cardiac sympathetic nerve function (CSNF) in the adult patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) could often be seen. However, little is known concerning the impairment of CSNF in KD patients.