PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic usefulness of scintimammography performed with Tc-99m tetrofosmin in the detection of primary breast cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sixty-one patients underwent Tc-99m tetrofosmin scintimammography, plain-filrn mammography and ultrasonography. After intravenous injection of Tc-99m tetrofosmin (740 MBq), prone lateral and anterior scintimammograms were obtained. Scintimammogram was visually interpreted as positive, probably positive, probably negative and negative for malignancy. The tumor to background count ratio (T/B) was measured at 5 minutes and 1 hour. Plain-film mammogram was interprcted as one of 5 categories. Final diagnosis was achieved by surgical histology (58/61) or fine needle aspiration (3/61). Of 61 patients, 44 had cancer and 17 had benign lesion. Tumor size of malignant and benign lesions on ultrasonogram were 2.51+/-1.30 cm (range 1-8 cm), 2.50+/-1.35 cm (range 0.96-6 cm), respectively. RESULTS: The sensitivity of plain-film mammography was 88.6%, specificity 58.8%, positive predictive value 84.7%, and negative predictive value 66.7%. The sensitivity of Tc-99m tetrofosmin scintimammography was 90.9%; specificity, 88.2%; positive predictive value, 94.9%; negative predictive value, 78.9%. Of 25 patients with indeterminate degree of suspicion for malignancy on plain-film mammogram, 23 were correctly diagnosed by scintimamography. The T/B at 5 minutes and 1 hour were 3.78+/-2.21, 3.25+/-1.80 respectively. The T/B was decreased significantly at 1 hour (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Tc-99rn tetrofosrnin scintimammography was useful diagnostic procedure in the detection of primary breast cancer, especially in patients with indeterminate degree of suspicion for malignancy on plain-film mammogram.
Biopsy, Fine-Needle ; Breast Neoplasms* ; Breast* ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Injections, Intravenous ; Mammography ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Ultrasonography

PURPOSE: It is important to differentiate malignant from benign lesions of intraocular masses in choosing therapeutic plan. Biopsy of intraocular tumor is not recommended due to the risk of visual damage. We evaluated the usefulness of F-18-FDG PET imaging in diagnosing intraocular neoplasms. MATERIALS AND METHODS: F-l8-FDG PET scan was performed in 13 patients (15 lesions) suspected to have malignant intraocular tumors. There were 3 benign lesions (retinal detachment, choroidal effusion and hemorrhage) and 10 patients with 12 malignant lesions (3 melanomas, 7 retinoblastomas and 2 metastatic cancers). Regional eye images (256*256 and 128*128 matrices) were obtained with or without attenuation correction. Whole body scan was also performed in eight patients (3 benign and 6 malignant lesions). RESULTS: All malignant lesions were visualized while all benign lesions were not visualized. The mean peak standardized uptake value (SUV) of malignant lesions was 2.64+/-0.57 g/ml. There was no correlations between peak SUV and tumor volume. Two large malignant lesions (>1000 mm3 ) showed hot uptake on whole body scan. But two medium-sized lesions (100-l000 mm3) looked faint and two small (<100 mm3) lesions were not visualized. The images reconstructed with 256*256 matrix showed lesions more clearly than those with 128X128 matrix. CONCLUSION: F-18-FDG PET scan is highly sensitivity in detecting malignant intraocular tumor. For the evaluation of small-sized intraocular lesions, whole body scan is not appropriate because of low sensitivity. A regional scan with sufficient acquisition time is recommended for that purpose. Image reconstruction in matrix size of 256*256 produced clearer images than the ones in 128X128, but it does not affect the diagnostic sensitivity.
Biopsy ; Choroid ; Diagnosis* ; Humans ; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted ; Melanoma ; Orbital Neoplasms ; Positron-Emission Tomography ; Retinoblastoma ; Tumor Burden ; Whole Body Imaging

Gallium-67 scintigraphy is helpful in the assessment of active extrapulmonary sarcoidosis. Muscular involvement of sarcoidosis is often asymptomatic or nonspecific, and laboratory examinations do not provide convincing evidence of muscular involvement. We report a case of muscular sarcoidosis, which was detected by gallium-67 scintigraphy. In a patient who was suffering from fever and arthralgia of knee joint, gallium-67 scintigraphy showed mediastinal and hilar involvement of sarcoidosis with unexpected extensive muscular uptake. Magenetic resonance imaging revealed the detailed depiction of intramuscular infiltration of sarcoid granuloma. Gallium-67 scintigraphy is useful in detecting inflammatory muscular involvement of sarcoidosis as well as other multiorgan involvement.
Arthralgia ; Fever ; Granuloma ; Humans ; Knee Joint ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Radionuclide Imaging* ; Sarcoidosis*

Evaluation of dementia in patients with early symptoms of cognitive decline is clinically challenging, but the need for early, accurate diagnosis has become more crucial, since several medication for the treatment of mild to moderate Alzheimer' disease are available. Many neurodegenerative diseases produce significant brain function alteration even when structural imaging (CT or MRI) reveal no specific abnormalities. The role of PET and SPECT brain imaging in the initial assessment and differential diagnosis of dementia is beginning to evolve rapidly and growing evidence indicates that appropriate incorporation of PET into the clinical work-up can improve diagnostic and prognostic accuracy with respect to Alzheimer's disease, the most common cause of dementia in the geriatric population. In the fast few years, studies comparing neuropathologic examination with PET have established reliable and consistent accuracy for diagnostic evaluations using PET - accuracies substantially exceeding those of comparable studies of diagnostic value of SPECT or of both modalities assessed side by side, or of clinical evaluations done without nuclear imaging. This review deals the role of functional brain imaging techniques in the evaluation of dementias and the role of nuclear neuroimaging in the early detection and diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease.
Alzheimer Disease ; Brain ; Dementia* ; Diagnosis ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Functional Neuroimaging ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Neurodegenerative Diseases ; Neuroimaging ; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon

No abstract available.
Aorta, Thoracic*

No abstract available.
Carcinoma, Renal Cell*

No abstract available.
Aneurysm, False*

No abstract available.
Carcinoma, Hepatocellular* ; Spleen*

No abstract available.
Stroke Volume*

No abstract available.
Animals ; Chitosan* ; Eating* ; Mice*