Costosternal chondrodynia simulating recurrent breast cancer unveiled by FDG PET.

FDG-PET imaging, which is routinely used to assess recurrent breast cancer, is nonspecific for malignancies and can detect several inflammatory lesions. Costochondritis following breast reconstructive surgery, presenting with excruciating chest pain or "chondrodynia," is a rare variant of Tietze's syndrome thought to occur due to traction exerted by large breast implants. Diagnosis is usually clinical because no abnormalities are identified on conventional imaging.

Use of step-section histopathology to evaluate 18F-fluorocholine PET sextant localization of prostate cancer.

To assess positron emission tomography (PET) with fluorine-18 fluorocholine for sextant localization of malignant prostate tumors. Histopathologic analysis was performed on step-sectioned whole-mounted prostate specimens from 15 patients who underwent PET with fluorocholine prior to radical prostatectomy. The maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) corresponding to prostate sextants on PET was measured by region of interest analysis and compared with histopathologic results.

A Potential Role for F-18 FDG PET/CT in Evaluation and Management of Fibrosing Mediastinitis.

Fibrosing mediastinitis is an uncommon benign disorder, and its pathogenesis and management remain unclear. Conventional imaging techniques (chest radiographs, CT, MRI) may suggest its diagnosis but are frequently nonspecific, and it frequently mimics a malignant process by presenting as a mediastinal mass without calcifications, encasing, and infiltrating adjacent mediastinal structures, and showing an overall aggressive behavior. The value of FDG PET imaging in this entity remains largely unknown with only a few case reports in the literature, and often, biopsy is necessary for definitive diagnosis.

Solitary brain lesions enhancing at MR imaging: evaluation with fluorine 18 fluorocholine PET.

Purpose: To prospectively determine whether differences between benign and malignant brain lesions can be depicted with fluorine 18 ((18)F) fluorocholine positron emission tomography (PET).

Materials And Methods: Thirty consecutive patients (14 women, 16 men; age range, 26-79 years) with solitary brain lesions that were enhanced at magnetic resonance (MR) imaging underwent whole-brain (18)F-fluorocholine PET after giving informed consent in this institutional review board-approved, HIPAA-compliant study. Histopathologic diagnoses were made in 24 cases (13 high-grade gliomas, eight metastases to the brain, and three benign lesions).

Usefulness of fully automated constant ROI analysis software for the brain: 3DSRT and FineSRT.

The positioning or selection of a region of interest (ROI) is an essential step for the quantification of brain images. However, so long as the ROIs were manually selected, results obtained fluctuated considerably with subtle changes in their positioning. To perform an ROI analysis of the brain with improved objectivity and excellent reproducibility, we recently established fully automated ROI-based analysis software for the brain, the so-called 3DSRT and the FineSRT.

Benign variations and incidental abnormalities of myocardial FDG uptake in the fasting state as encountered during routine oncology positron emission tomography studies.

Increased 18fluoro-2-deoxyglucose (FDG) uptake in the myocardium is frequently observed while performing clinical positron emission tomography (PET) body scans for oncology under fasting conditions. This article reviews the normal variations and abnormal appearances of myocardial FDG accumulation which are likely to be encountered in the routine PET studies. Knowledge about the myocardial glucose metabolism and specific abnormalities are indispensable in the interpretation of myocardial FDG uptake.

[Comparison of activity expression between PET using 68Ge-68Ga line source attenuation correction and PET-CT using CT attenuation correction: impact on emission images].

Objectives: CT data can be used for both anatomical image and attenuation correction (CTAC) of PET data in PET-CT scanners. The CTAC method is useful for attenuation correction, because the CT scan time is much shorter than the external radionuclide (e.g.

Localization of primary prostate cancer with dual-phase 18F-fluorocholine PET.

Unlabelled: This study compared 18F-fluorocholine uptake in malignant and benign areas of the prostate at 2 time points to determine the suitability of delayed or dual-phase 18F-fluorocholine PET for localizing malignancy in the prostate gland.

Methods: Twenty-six men (15 newly diagnosed with prostate cancer, 2 with recurrent prostate cancer, 6 with no evidence of prostate cancer recurrence after treatment, and 3 with no history of prostate cancer) underwent dual-phase PET consisting of initial whole-body PET starting 7 min after injection of 3.3-4 MBq/kg of 18F-fluorocholine followed by 1-h delayed PET of the pelvis.

[Application of PET-CT for diagnosis of cancer].

18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET), which is applied to the phenomenon of activated uptake of glucose in tumor cells, has been widely used and recognized as an excellent nuclear medicine examination for detecting almost any kind of tumor. However, PET is not good to identify the anatomical location of lesions, examinees actually need to view both PET and CT or MRI images. PET-CT was established in 2000, and recently approved by MHLW in December 2003.

Prostate cancer localization with 18fluorine fluorocholine positron emission tomography.

Purpose: We evaluated positron emission tomography (PET) with fluorine fluorocholine (F FCH) for the pretreatment localization of prostate cancer.

Materials And Methods: A total of 17 patients with prostate cancer who had not yet received treatment for the disease underwent whole body PET following intravenous administration of 3.3 to 4 MBq/kg F FCH.

Combined use of F-18 fluorocholine positron emission tomography and magnetic resonance spectroscopy for brain tumor evaluation.

Background: Choline metabolism is often abnormal in malignant brain tumors.

Methods: Brain positron emission tomography (PET) imaging with F-18 fluorocholine (FCH) was performed on 2 patients with intracranial lesions suspected to be high-grade malignant gliomas on the basis of magnetic resonance (MR) imaging and multivoxel 1H-MR spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) findings. Standardized uptake value (SUV) measurements on PET were compared with measurements of choline/creatine metabolite ratio on MRSI in corresponding regions.

Effect of acute marijuana on cardiovascular function and central nervous system pharmacokinetics of [(15)O]water: effect in occasional and chronic users.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of the acute administration of marijuana (MJ) on cardiovascular (CV) function and CNS pharmacokinetics (PK) of [(15)O]water in occasional (O) versus chronic (C) MJ users. Each subject received four injections of [(15)O]water (one prior and three postsmoking) on two occasions in which they received active or placebo MJ. For each injection, measures of CV function and CNS PK [(15)O]water were made.

Artifactual 2-deoxy-2-[(18)F]fluoro-D-glucose localization surrounding metallic objects in a PET/CT scanner using CT-based attenuation correction.

Purpose: To communicate a clinically important artifact in positron emission tomography (PET) images using a PET/computerized tomography (CT) scanner with CT-based attenuation correction.

Procedure: A 65-year-old man with a maxillary sinus squamous cell carcinoma was injected with 2-deoxy-2-[(18)F]fluoro-D-glucose (FDG) and underwent a PET scan using a dual modality PET/CT scanner with CT-based attenuation correction. Immediately afterward, the patient had a second scan using a different PET scanner that used a high-energy transmission source for attenuation correction.

PET scanning and the solitary pulmonary nodule.

The finding of a solitary pulmonary nodule on a chest radiograph is a common problem in pulmonary medicine and is seen in about 1 in 500 chest radiographs. Of the benign lesions, 80% are infectious granulomas, 10% are hamartomas, and the remaining 10% are caused by a variety of rarer disorders including noninfectious granulomas and other benign tumors. The prevalence of malignancy ranges from 10% to 68% in the literature.

Global cerebral blood flow after CO2 inhalation in normal subjects and patients with panic disorder determined with [15O]water and PET.

Objective: To determine the effect of CO2 inhalation on global cerebral blood flow (gCBF) and pCO2-adjusted gCBF in normal subjects and panic disorder patients.

Method: Global cerebral blood flow was determined using quantitative [15O] water imaging in normal subjects (n = 12) and panic disorder patients (n = 14) after inhalations of medical grade air and of 35%/65% CO2/O2 mixture, a known inducer of panic. The gCBF was calculated as an area-weighted mean value.

New routes to N-alkylated cyclic sulfamidates.

BOC- and dibenzosuberyl-protected chiral and hindered cyclic sulfamidates ([1,2,3]-oxathiazolidine-2,2-dioxides) were synthesized and subsequently deprotected using trifluoroacetic acid. The resulting crystalline sulfamidates were then used in several alkylation reactions involving benzyl bromide and alcohols in a versatile route to cyclic sulfamidates with differing N-alkyl substituents.

Qualitative and quantitative evaluation of six algorithms for correcting intensity nonuniformity effects.

The desire to correct intensity nonuniformity in magnetic resonance images has led to the proliferation of nonuniformity-correction (NUC) algorithms with different theoretical underpinnings. In order to provide end users with a rational basis for selecting a given algorithm for a specific neuroscientific application, we evaluated the performance of six NUC algorithms. We used simulated and real MRI data volumes, including six repeat scans of the same subject, in order to rank the accuracy, precision, and stability of the nonuniformity corrections.

Evaluating performance of reconstruction algorithms for 3-D [15O] water PET using subtraction analysis.

Positron emission tomography (PET) [15O] activation studies have benefited significantly from three-dimensional (3-D) data acquisition. However, they have been slow to take advantage of new 3-D reconstruction techniques. Compared with the widely used 3-D reprojection reconstruction (3DRP), the advantage of signal and noise for iterative algorithms has been outweighed by concern about long and complicated reconstruction procedures and inconsistent performance.

Subcortical and cortical brain activity during the feeling of self-generated emotions.

In a series of [15O]PET experiments aimed at investigating the neural basis of emotion and feeling, 41 normal subjects recalled and re-experienced personal life episodes marked by sadness, happiness, anger or fear. We tested the hypothesis that the process of feeling emotions requires the participation of brain regions, such as the somatosensory cortices and the upper brainstem nuclei, that are involved in the mapping and/or regulation of internal organism states. Such areas were indeed engaged, underscoring the close relationship between emotion and homeostasis.