Interesting Signs in Nuclear Medicine
Classic radiological and nuclear medicine signs have been reported extensively because of a myriad of pathophysiological processes. When encountered, they aid in diagnosis of conditions and add confidence for the reader, at times even hinting at a specific diagnosis. The naming of signs is commonly associated with objects from everyday life to establish familiarity with visual findings. Association of signs and disease comes with regular practice and improves understanding of the image and its underlying cause. (Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine)
Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine - October 31, 2015 Category: Nuclear Medicine Authors: Gopinath Gnanasegaran, Cherry Sit, Ruolei Chen, Kanhaiyalal Agrawal, Ignac Fogelman Source Type: research
Pitfalls and Limitations of Radionuclide and Hybrid Imaging: Part 2
We hope that you enjoyed reading Part I of Pitfalls and limitations of Radionuclide and Hybrid Imaging. In Part II, we continue to cover several other important and interesting topics. (Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine)
Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine - October 31, 2015 Category: Nuclear Medicine Authors: Gopinath Gnanasegaran, Ignac Fogelman Source Type: research
Letter From the Editors
In this second part of the Pitfalls and Image Limitations Seminars, several additional areas are elucidated. In the past several years, hybrid imaging with both SPECT/CT and PET/CT and even more recently, PET/MRI have become enormously popular. However, they have greater room for technical errors, many of which are involved with the coregistration process. These potential sources of error are nicely reviewed by several articles in this issue. (Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine)
Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine - October 31, 2015 Category: Nuclear Medicine Authors: Leonard M. Freeman, M. Donald Blaufox Source Type: research
Artifacts and Incidental Findings Encountered on Dual-Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry: Atlas and Analysis
Bone mineral densitometry (BMD) using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) has been widely adopted as the standard method of assessing bone density. Although not intended to be a primary imaging modality, the technique generates attenuation map images that are used to guide region-of-interest placement. Artifacts and incidental findings are frequently encountered on the DEXA images, some of which directly affect BMD values and others that are only of incidental importance to clinical practice. (Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine)
Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine - August 14, 2015 Category: Nuclear Medicine Authors: Patrick Martineau, Sadri Bazarjani, Lionel S. Zuckier Source Type: research
Pitfalls and Limitations of Radionuclide Planar and Hybrid Bone Imaging
The radionuclide 99mTc-MDP bone scan is one of the most commonly performed nuclear medicine studies and helps in the diagnosis of different pathologies relating to the musculoskeletal system. With its increasing utility in clinical practice, it becomes more important to be aware of various limitations of this imaging modality to avoid false interpretation. It is necessary to be able to recognize various technical, radiopharmaceutical, and patient-related artifacts that can occur while carrying out a bone scan. (Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine)
Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine - August 14, 2015 Category: Nuclear Medicine Authors: Kanhaiyalal Agrawal, Fahad Marafi, Gopinath Gnanasegaran, Hans Van der Wall, Ignac Fogelman Source Type: research
Pitfalls and Limitations of Radionuclide and Hybrid Cardiac Imaging
Radionuclide myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) is an important technique for evaluating the presence and severity of ischemic coronary heart disease that is widespread in the United States and much of the world. This widely used test has excellent diagnostic accuracy and strong risk-stratification utility and plays an important role in guiding patient management. As with all testing modalities, the clinical utility of MPI relies on proper procedure performance as improper techniques can lead to incorrect test interpretation, and thus misdiagnosis with potential adverse effects on patient management and outcome. (Source: S...
Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine - August 14, 2015 Category: Nuclear Medicine Authors: Mark I. Travin Source Type: research
Pitfalls and Limitations of Radionuclide Imaging in Endocrinology
Several different techniques, radiopharmaceuticals, and imaging modalities are commonly used in nuclear medicine for studies of endocrine organs. Nuclear medicine is used in the management of benign and malignant thyroid, parathyroid, and neuroendocrine disorders. Thus, it is essential to acknowledge pitfalls and the limitations of nuclear medicine imaging for accurate diagnosis and patient management. (Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine)
Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine - August 14, 2015 Category: Nuclear Medicine Authors: Kanhaiyalal Agrawal, Abdulredha A.H. Esmail, Gopinath Gnanasegaran, Shaunak Navalkissoor, Bhagwant Rai Mittal, Ignac Fogelman Source Type: research
Pitfalls and Limitations of SPECT, PET, and Therapeutic Radiopharmaceuticals
Radiopharmaceuticals are widely accepted to be a very safe class of drugs, with very few adverse reactions and unexpected biodistributions. However, problems can arise because of technical issues in manufacture or reconstitution, patient preparation, or drug administration. This review presents highlights of issues that have arisen in the newer classes of radiopharmaceuticals in the last 20 years and expands the scope of the previous report to include PET and therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals. Variations in the “quality” of the eluate of a 99Mo/99mTc generator remain a major issue. (Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine)
Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine - August 14, 2015 Category: Nuclear Medicine Authors: James R. Ballinger Source Type: research
Pitfalls and Limitations of Radionuclide Renal Imaging in Adults
To understand pitfalls and limitations in adult renography, it is necessary to understand firstly the physiology of the kidney, especially the magnitude and control of renal blood flow, glomerular filtration rate and tubular fluid flow rate, and secondly the pharmacokinetics and renal handling of the three most often used tracers, Tc-99m-mercaptoacetyltriglycine (MAG3), Tc-99m-diethylene triamine pentaacetic acid (DTPA) and Tc-99m-dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA). The kidneys may be imaged dynamically with Tc-99m-MAG3 or Tc-99m-DTPA, with or without diuretic challenge, or by static imaging with Tc-99m-DMSA. (Source: Seminars...
Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine - August 14, 2015 Category: Nuclear Medicine Authors: Georgia Keramida, Jacqueline M. James, Mary C. Prescott, Adrien Michael Peters Source Type: research
Artifacts and Anatomical Variants Affecting Ventilation and Perfusion Lung Imaging
Ventilation and perfusion lung imaging continues to be an important technique in the investigation of lung disease, particularly pulmonary emboli. For the most accurate interpretation, a solid understanding of the agents available, underlying physiology, and normal variants is required. A number of ventilation agents are available ranging from true gases to aqueous aerosols and carbon nanoparticles. The addition in recent years of SPECT imaging, although improving the technique, has added to the range of artifacts and variants to be appreciated. (Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine)
Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine - August 14, 2015 Category: Nuclear Medicine Authors: Geoffrey P. Schembri, Paul J. Roach, Dale L. Bailey, Leonard Freeman Source Type: research
Pitfalls and Limitations of Radionuclide Renal Imaging in Pediatrics
The article presents common pitfalls encountered in pediatric radionuclide renography, illustrated with clinical cases. It is important to recognize normal variants. A good acquisition technique is essential. Correlation with other imaging techniques, with the clinical background and symptoms, is critical. A clear clinical question is essential: based on the question and knowing the strengths and weaknesses of each test, the test which can best answer the question can be selected. Awareness of the pitfalls of radionuclide renography helps avoid errors of interpretation and allows the selection of the most helpful test for ...
Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine - August 14, 2015 Category: Nuclear Medicine Authors: Lorenzo Biassoni Source Type: research
Letter from the Guest Editor: Pitfalls and Limitations of Radionuclide and Hybrid Imaging—Part I
One of the most popular Seminars׳ article ever was “Normal physiological and benign pathological variants of 18-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose positron-emission tomography scanning: potential for error in interpretation” (1996). We are now many years on and nuclear medicine is thriving with multiple developments, advances, and breakthroughs in radiopharmaceuticals, equipment, and software. However in the present era where hybrid imaging is becoming the norm, progress brings frequent complications and pitfalls for the unwary. (Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine)
Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine - August 14, 2015 Category: Nuclear Medicine Authors: Gopinath Gnanasegaran, Ignac Fogelman Source Type: research
Letter From the Editors
The interpretation of radionuclide images is often associated with variations from the expected. At times these may be suspected because of associated medical conditions or differences in technical aspects of our studies. Hybrid imaging with both SPECT/CT and PET/CT has mandated additional expertise in understanding and interpreting cross-sectional function and anatomy. (Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine)
Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine - August 14, 2015 Category: Nuclear Medicine Authors: Leonard M. Freeman, M. Donald Blaufox Source Type: research
Editorial
This issue containing 6 articles devoted to PET/MRI concludes our 2-part Seminar on this subject. The guest editorial for this topic can be found in the May 2015 issue.1 Drs von Schulthess and Veit-Haiback preferred to present an overview of the entire 2-part issue with a single guest editorial rather than to divide it into 2 parts. The rationale for this was to provide the reader with a full and complete commentary and perspective without having to wait for the second issue to be published. For this reason, it is important to refer back to part 1 of the PET/MRI Seminar to fully understand the rationale, aims, and purpose ...
Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine - June 5, 2015 Category: Nuclear Medicine Authors: Leonard Freeman, M. Donald Blaufox Source Type: research
PET/MRI in the Upper Abdomen
PET/CT and contrast-enhanced CT have been considered the standard imaging modalities in the diagnosis of upper abdominal malignancies. PET/CT can be challenging in soft tissue delineation, especially in the upper abdomen. The recent development of PET/MRI for clinical use has shown promising results, with MRI providing superior soft tissue contrast and PET providing biochemical and metabolic information. Combined PET/MRI may allow simultaneous benefit in the assessment of patients in a single session, improving patient journey, lesion detectability, diagnostic performance, and prognostic information. (Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine)
Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine - June 5, 2015 Category: Nuclear Medicine Authors: Maria Gavra, Rizwan Syed, Francesco Fraioli, Asim Afaq, Jamshed Bomanji Source Type: research
