Economic evaluation studies in nuclear medicine: a methodological review of the literature.

Background: The growing need for evaluation of the utility of new nuclear medicine technologies has spawned a few economic studies ranging from preliminary indications of cost savings to complete decision analysis models incorporating costs and quality of life. The objective of the current study was to evaluate the methodological quality of economic analyses of nuclear medicine procedures which targeted cost-effectiveness or cost-utility issues published in the medical literature during the years 1985-1999.

Methods: A computerized literature search was used to identify original investigations from the medical literature which included an economic analysis of a nuclear medicine procedure.

Rapid synthesis of a 5'-fluorinated oligodeoxy-nucleotide: a model antisense probe for use in imaging with positron emission tomography (PET).

5'-Deoxy-5'-fluoro-O4-methylthymidine was synthesized by the reaction of the corresponding 5'-O-tosylate with KF in the presence of Kryptofix [222] and coupled to a 5'-phosphoramidite-activated CPG-bound oligodeoxynucleotide. The sequence of reactions and purifications were accomplished within 4 h, a necessary condition of the development of radiofluorinated antisense oligodeoxynucleotide probe for use with PET.

MD@: a physician-friendly decision analysis tool.

The cost-effective use of medical resources is increasingly important in justifying strategies for medical diagnosis and management. Although some software is available to help with decision analysis, it can be difficult to use these tools for medical applications. We have developed a prototype package for modeling various medical decision strategies, which can be used with a Macintosh or Windows-based personal computer.

Recent structural solutions for antibody neutralization of viruses.

Structural studies of virus-antibody interactions can offer insights into mechanisms of virus neutralization and immune escape. Crystallography and cryoelectron microscopy can reveal the structural relationship between receptor-binding sites and neutralization epitopes, as well as whether molecular rearrangements occur upon antibody binding.

Decision tree sensitivity analysis for cost-effectiveness of FDG-PET in the staging and management of non-small-cell lung carcinoma.

Unlabelled: Preliminary studies have shown that PET is more accurate than CT for the staging of non-small-cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC). However, the potential effect of PET on the management of these patients and its cost-effectiveness has not been rigorously studied. Thus, we have used decision tree sensitivity analysis to assess the cost-effectiveness of a PET based strategy for staging of NSCLC.