PET/MR in Breast Cancer
Breast cancer is an international public health concern in which an optimal treatment plan requires a precise staging. Both MRI and PET imaging techniques have made significant progress in the last decades with constant improvements that made both modalities clinically relevant in several stages of breast cancer management and follow-up. On one hand, specific breast MRI permits high diagnostic accuracy for local tumor staging, and whole-body MRI can also be of great use in distant staging, eventually accompanied by organ-specific MRI sequences. (Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine)
Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine - June 5, 2015 Category: Nuclear Medicine Authors: Claire Tabouret-Viaud, Diomidis Botsikas, Bénédicte M.A. Delattre, Ismini Mainta, Gaël Amzalag, Olivier Rager, Vincent Vinh-Hung, Raymond Miralbell, Osman Ratib Source Type: research
PET/MRI and PET/CT in Lung Lesions and Thoracic Malignancies
More than one decade ago, introduction of integrated PET/CT scanners changed oncologic imaging and oncologic patient management profoundly. With these systems, the metabolic information acquired by PET can be anatomically localized even to small structures such as small primary tumors, lymph nodes, and soft tissue masses owing to the high-resolution multidetector CT scanners. This has made PET/CT a most reliable method for tumor detection, characterization, staging, and response monitoring. The importance of an integrated functional and morphologic approach to better understand the biology of oncologic disease and to impro...
Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine - June 5, 2015 Category: Nuclear Medicine Authors: Paul Flechsig, Amit Mehndiratta, Uwe Haberkorn, Clemens Kratochwil, Frederik L. Giesel Source Type: research
PET/MRI Evaluation of Gynecologic Malignancies and Prostate Cancer
PET combined with cross-sectional anatomical imaging is an essential part of workup for most malignancies, in which CT or MRI provides anatomical context to the functional information from PET. Hybrid imaging with PET/CT has been extensively researched and implemented clinically in the evaluation and management of patients with gynecologic malignancies. Lately, integrated PET/MR scanners have become available. This new technology is fast gaining a role in clinical applications in the fields of oncology, neurology, and cardiology. (Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine)
Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine - June 5, 2015 Category: Nuclear Medicine Authors: Swapnil Bagade, Kathryn J. Fowler, Julie K. Schwarz, Perry W. Grigsby, Farrokh Dehdashti Source Type: research
PET/CT, MR, and PET/MR in Lymphoma and Melanoma
With the introduction of hybrid imaging technologies such as PET/CT and recently PET/MRI, staging and therapy-response monitoring have evolved. PET/CT has been shown to be of value for routine staging of FDG-avid lymphomas before as well as at the end of treatment. For interim staging, trials are ongoing to evaluate the use of PET/CT. In melanoma, PET/CT can be recommended for stages III and IV diseases for initial staging and before surgery. Studies investigating the use of PET/CT for early therapy response are promising. (Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine)
Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine - June 5, 2015 Category: Nuclear Medicine Authors: Nina F. Schwenzer, Anna Christina Pfannenberg Source Type: research
Workflow in Simultaneous PET/MRI
The advent of simultaneous PET/MRI brought a large amount of possibilities in research and clinical applications into hybrid imaging. Unlike in PET/CT protocols, the MR component provides an almost unlimited number of pulse sequences and possibilities of different protocols in PET/MRI. Nevertheless, there is an imperative to reduce excessive imaging protocols to realistic clinical practice imaging acquisition. The design of a concise and indication-adapted protocol that provides an efficient workflow in a clinical reality is necessary to transform PET/MRI to a cost-effective imaging modality in addition to PET/CT. (Source:...
Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine - June 5, 2015 Category: Nuclear Medicine Authors: Felipe de Galiza Barbosa, Gustav von Schulthess, Patrick Veit-Haibach Source Type: research
Current Image Acquisition Options in PET/MR
Whole-body PET/MR hybrid imaging combines excellent soft tissue contrast and various functional imaging parameters provided by MR with high sensitivity and quantification of radiotracer uptake provided by PET. Although clinical evaluation now is under way, PET/MR demands for new technologies and innovative solutions, currently subject to interdisciplinary research. Attenuation correction (AC) of human soft tissues and of hardware components has to be MR based to maintain quantification of PET imaging as CT attenuation information is missing. (Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine)
Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine - April 3, 2015 Category: Nuclear Medicine Authors: Ronald Boellaard, Harald H. Quick Source Type: research
Future Image Acquisition Trends for PET/MRI
Hybrid PET/MRI scanners have become commercially available in the past years but are not yet widely distributed. The combination of a state-of-the-art PET with a state-of-the-art MRI scanner provides numerous potential advantages compared with the established PET/CT hybrid systems, namely, increased soft tissue contrast; functional information from MRI such as diffusion, perfusion, and blood oxygenation level–dependent techniques; true multiplanar data acquisition; and reduced radiation exposure. (Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine)
Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine - April 3, 2015 Category: Nuclear Medicine Authors: Andreas Boss, Markus Weiger, Florian Wiesinger Source Type: research
PET/MR in Dementia and Other Neurodegenerative Diseases
The spectrum of neurodegenerative diseases covers the dementias, parkinsonian syndromes, Huntington disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and prion diseases. In these entities, brain MRI is often used in clinical routine to exclude other pathologies and to demonstrate specific atrophy patterns. [18F]FDG PET delivers early and sensitive readouts of neural tissue loss, and more specific PET tracers currently in use clinically target β-amyloid plaques or dopaminergic deficiency. The recent integration of PET into MR technology offers a new chance to improve early and differential diagnosis of many neurodegenerative disease...
Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine - April 3, 2015 Category: Nuclear Medicine Authors: Henryk Barthel, Matthias L. Schroeter, Karl-Titus Hoffmann, Osama Sabri Source Type: research
PET/MRI of the Heart
Hybrid imaging devices including PET/CT and SPECT/CT have seen a great success in clinical routine, especially in the field of oncology. With the recent advent of PET/MRI scanners, expectations that PET/MRI would replicate that success were accordingly high. The combination of molecular imaging with a variety of very specific PET tracers and the high spatial resolution of MRI are expected to result in increased diagnostic accuracy or even in the creation of additional demands for hybrid imaging. (Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine)
Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine - April 3, 2015 Category: Nuclear Medicine Authors: Christoph Rischpler, Stephan G. Nekolla, Karl P. Kunze, Markus Schwaiger Source Type: research
PET/MR in Cancers of the Head and Neck
One early application of PET/MRI in clinical practice may be the imaging of head and neck cancers. This is because the morphologic imaging modalities, CT and MR, are recognized as similarly effective tools in cross-sectional oncological imaging of the head and neck. The addition of PET with FDG is believed to enhance the accuracy of both modalities to a similar degree. However, there are a few specific scenarios in head and neck cancer imaging where MR is thought to provide an edge over CT, including perineural spread of tumors and the infiltration of important anatomical landmarks, such as the prevertebral fascia and grea...
Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine - April 3, 2015 Category: Nuclear Medicine Authors: Marcelo A. Queiroz, Martin W. Huellner Source Type: research
Guest Editorial
Clinical hybrid imaging has been in existence for roughly 15 years, starting with SPECT-nondiagnostic CT combinations and really taking off with PET/CT, incorporating diagnostic quality CTs in 2001. The reasons for the resounding success of PET/CT are obvious in hindsight. The imaging community around the turn of the century became aware of two facts: (Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine)
Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine - April 3, 2015 Category: Nuclear Medicine Authors: Gustav K. von Schulthess, Patrick Veit-Haibach Source Type: research
Editorial
A number of articles in previous issues of the Seminars in Nuclear Medicine have mentioned PET/MRI. However, it was not until January 2013 that the first truly clinically directed article appeared.1 Now, almost 2.5 years later, it is possible to direct not one but two complete issues of the Seminars in Nuclear Medicine to the clinical applications of PET/MRI in nuclear medicine and radiology. The editors are grateful that Drs Patrick Veit-Halbach and Gustav von Schulthess, who served as the authors of that original article on PET/MRI in clinical nuclear medicine, have agreed to serve as guest editors of this two-part semin...
Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine - April 3, 2015 Category: Nuclear Medicine Authors: Leonard M. Freeman, M. Donald Blaufox Source Type: research
Erratum to “Evaluation of Osseous Metastasis in Bone Scintigraphy”[Seminars in Nuclear Medicine (2015) 3–15]
The incorrect affiliation was listed for Dr. Alexander Antoniou in the January issue. He is affiliated with Russel H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD. (Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine)
Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine - April 3, 2015 Category: Nuclear Medicine Authors: Diego Davila, Alexander Antoniou, Muhammad A. Chaudhry Source Type: research
Motion Correction Options in PET/MRI
Subject motion is unavoidable in clinical and research imaging studies. Breathing is the most important source of motion in whole-body PET and MRI studies, affecting not only thoracic organs but also those in the upper and even lower abdomen. The motion related to the pumping action of the heart is obviously relevant in high-resolution cardiac studies. These two sources of motion are periodic and predictable, at least to a first approximation, which means certain techniques can be used to control the motion (eg, by acquiring the data when the organ of interest is relatively at rest). (Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine)
Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine - April 3, 2015 Category: Nuclear Medicine Authors: Ciprian Catana Source Type: research
Hypoxia Imaging in Gliomas With F-Fluoromisonidazole PET: Toward Clinical Translation
There is significant interest in the development of improved image-guided therapy for neuro-oncology applications. Glioblastomas (GBM) in particular present a considerable challenge because of their pervasive nature, propensity for recurrence, and resistance to conventional therapies. MRI is routinely used as a guide for planning treatment strategies. However, this imaging modality is not able to provide images that clearly delineate tumor boundaries and affords only indirect information about key tumor pathophysiology. (Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine)
Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine - February 20, 2015 Category: Nuclear Medicine Authors: Christopher Bell, Nicholas Dowson, Mike Fay, Paul Thomas, Simon Puttick, Yaniv Gal, Stephen Rose Source Type: research
