PURPOSE: Gated myocardial perfusion SPECT provides not only myocardial perfusion status but also various functional parameters of left ventricle. We compared left ventricular ejection fraction, end-diastolic volume, LV mass by cardiac SPECT using Quantitative Gated SPECT (QGS), 4D-MSPECT software and standard 2D-echocardiography. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred fourteen patients (male 51, female 63; 29-85 years old, mean 61.3+/-13.3 years old) with normal perfusion status on Tc-99m tetrofosmin gated myocardial perfusion SPECT were analyzed retrospectively. Ejection fraction (LVEF), End-diastolic volume (LVED), LV mass (LVM) were calculated using QGS, 4D-MSPECT, and LVEF, LVM using 2D-echocardiography. Statistical analysis including Bland-Altman plot was performed using MedCalc(R) (MedCalc software, Mariakerke, Belgium). RESULTS: The correlation of LVEF between methods was good: 0.95/0.96 (stress/rest) between QGS and 4D-MSPECT, 0.79 between QGS and echocardiography, 0.79 between 4D-MSPECT and echocardiography (p<0.001). Using Bland-Altman plot, the 95% confidence interval of agreement between QGS and 4D-MSPECT ranged from -12.7% to 7.3% / from -12.2% to 6.5% (stress/rest). The agreement between QGS and echocardiography, 4D-MSPECT and echocardiography ranged from -17.4% to 24.0%, and -14.8% to 27.0% respectively. The correlation of LVM between methods was also good: 0.95 between QGS and 4D-MSPECT, 0.76 between QGS and echocardiography, 0.73 between 4D-MSPECT and echocardiography (p<0.001). The 95% confidence interval of agreement between QGS and 4D-MSPECT ranged from -33.8 g to 14.1 g (stress/rest). The 95% confidence interval of agreement between QGS and echocardiography, 4D-MSPECT and echocardiography ranged from -148.7 g to 21.8. g, and -142.8 g to 35.5 g, respectively. CONCLUSION: There was a good correlation for LVEF, LVED, LVM among methods (QGS, 4D-MSPECT, echocardiography), but the variance between methods was big. Therefore, the functional parameters by each method cannot be used interchangeably.
Echocardiography ; Female ; Heart Ventricles ; Humans ; Perfusion ; Retrospective Studies ; Stroke Volume ; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon

Dopamine transporter imaging is useful in the diagnosis of Parkinson's disease and the most successful technique in the clinical use of neuroreceptor imaging. Recently, several radiopharmaceuticals including I-123 FP-CIT, Tc-99m TRODAT, and F-18 FP-CIT for dopamine transporter imaging have been approved for the routine clinical use in several European countries, Taiwan and Korea, respectively. This review summarized the practical issue for the routine clinical examination of dopamine transporter imaging.
Dopamine ; Dopamine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins ; Korea ; Parkinson Disease ; Positron-Emission Tomography ; Radiopharmaceuticals ; Sensory Receptor Cells ; Taiwan ; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon ; Tropanes

Applications of nanotechnology in the medical field have provided the fundamentals of tremendous improvement in precise diagnosis and customized therapy. Recent advances in nanomedicine have led to establish a new concept of theragnosis, which utilizes nanomedicines as a therapeutic and diagnostic tool at the same time. The development of high affinity nanoparticles with large surface area and functional groups multiplies diagnostic and therapeutic capacities. Considering the specific conditions related to the disease of individual patient, customized therapy requires the identification of disease target at the cellular and molecular level for reducing side effects and enhancing therapeutic efficiency. Well-designed nanoparticles can minimize unnecessary exposure of cytotoxic drugs and maximize targeted localization of administrated drugs. This review will focus on major pharmaceutical nanomaterials and nanoparticles as key components of designing and surface engineering for targeted theragnostic drug development.
Drug Delivery Systems ; Humans ; Nanomedicine ; Nanoparticles ; Nanostructures ; Nanotechnology

Tetrofosmin is a ligand that forms a lipophilic, cationic complex with Tc-99m.1) Tc-99m tetrofosmin was developed as a myocardial perfusion imaging agent and also used to depict tumors.1-3) Mediastinal tumors is also detected by Tc-99m tetrofosmin.2-5) We report a case of extracardiac mediastinal activity detected by Tc-99m tetrofosmin scintigraphy, which revealed thymoma.
Myocardial Perfusion Imaging ; Thymoma ; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon

Osteopoikilosis is a rare, benign hereditary disease, which presents multiple osteosclerotic, and small round nodules in the bone. It is usually detected incidentally by radiological examination. A radionuclide bone scintigraphy is essential in distinguishing osteopoikilosis from osteoblastic metastases, because scintigraphic findings are usually normal in patients with osteopoikilosis. However, there have been no reports about F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET findings in osteopoikilosis. Herein, we wish to report a case of osteopoikilosis with breast cancer, which could not be seen in either bone scintigraphy or F-18 FDG PET/CT.
Breast ; Breast Neoplasms ; Genetic Diseases, Inborn ; Humans ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Osteoblasts ; Osteopoikilosis

A 61-year-old man had a F-18 FDG PET/CT scan for evaluation of a common bile duct cancer identified on CT. The PET/CT image showed a hypermetabolic mass in the common bile duct, and a focal area of increased F-18 FDG uptake in segment IV of the liver, which corresponded to a hypoattenuated lesion on non-enhanced CT, and was consistent with hepatic metastasis. The patient underwent choledochojejunostomy with hepatic resection, and pathologic findings were compatible with an eosinophilic abscess in the liver. This case demonstrates that F-18 FDG uptake by an eosinophilic abscess can mimic hepatic metastasis in a patient with a malignancy.
Abscess ; Choledochostomy ; Common Bile Duct ; Eosinophils ; Humans ; Hydrazines ; Liver ; Liver Abscess ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Metastasis

No abstract available.
Muscles ; Necrosis ; Rhabdomyolysis ; Thigh

A hepatic angiomyolipoma is a rare benign tumor mainly composed of blood vessels, smooth muscle cells and fat cells in varying proportion. Hepatic angiomyolipoma is often misdiagnosed as a hepatocellular carcinoma in preoperative imaging work-up. To date, there has been little published data describing PET findings of hepatic angiomyolipoma. We report one case of hepatic angiomyolipoma that showed a high acetate and relatively low FDG uptake on PET images.
Adipocytes ; Angiomyolipoma ; Blood Vessels ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; Liver ; Myocytes, Smooth Muscle

PURPOSE: The HSV1-tk gene has been extensively studied as a type of reporter gene. In hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), only a small proportion of patients are eligible for surgical resection and there is limitation in palliative options. Therefore, there is a need for the develoopement of new treatment modalities and gene therapy is a leading candidate. In the present study, we investigated the usefulness of substrate, 2'-fluoro-2'-deoxy-1-beta-D-arabino-furanosyl-5-[124/125I]iodo- uracil ([124/125I]FIAU) as a non-invasive imaging agent for HSV1-tk gene therapy in hepatoma model using small animal PET. MATERIAL AND METHODS: With the Morris hepatoma MCA cell line and MCA-tk cell line which was transduced with the HSV1-tk gene, in vitro uptake and correlation study between [125I]FIAU uptake according to increasing numeric count of percentage of MCA-tk cell were performed. The biodistribution data and small animal PET images with [124I]FIAU were obtained with Balb/c-nude mice bearing both MCA and MCA-tk tumors. RESULTS: Specific accumulation of [125I]FIAU was observed in MCA-tk cells but uptake was low in MCA cells. Uptake in MCA-tk cells was 15 times higher than that of MCA cells at 480 min. [125I]FIAU uptake was linearly correlated (R2=0.964, p=0.01) with increasing percentage of MCA-tk numeric cell count. Biodistribution results showed that [125I]FIAU was mainly excreted via the renal system in the early phase. Ratios of MCA-tk tumor to blood acting were 10, 41, and 641 at 1 h, 4 h, and 24 h post-injection, respectively. The maximum ratio of MCA-tk to MCA tumor was 192.7 at 24 h. Ratios of MCA-tk tumor to liver were 13.8, 66.8, and 588.3 at 1 h, 4 h, and 24 h, respectively. On small aninal PET, [124I]FIAU accumulated in substantial higher levels in MCA-tk tumor and liver than MCA tumor. CONCLUSION: FIAU shows selective accumulation to HSV1-tk expressing hepatoma cell tumors with minimal uptake in normal liver. Therefore, radiolabelled FIAU is expected to be a useful substrate for non-invasive imaging of HSV1-tk gene therapy and therapeutic response monitoring of HCC.
Animals ; Arabinofuranosyluracil ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; Cell Count ; Cell Line ; Genes, Reporter ; Genetic Therapy ; Herpes Simplex ; Herpesvirus 1, Human ; Humans ; Liver ; Liver Neoplasms, Experimental ; Methylmethacrylates ; Mice ; Polystyrenes ; Simplexvirus ; Statistics as Topic ; Uracil ; Ursidae

PURPOSE: A urea breath test (UBT) using C-14 or C-13 has been developed for identifying Helicobacter (H) pylori infection on the basis of urease production with release of labeled CO2. We investigated if the C-14 and C-13 UBT have the difference to reflect the presence and degree of H. pylori infection detected by gastroduodenoscopic biopsies (GBx) in the same patients. Materials and METHODS: Thirty eight patients (M:F=28:10, age 53.4+/-13.0 yrs) with upper gastrointestinal symptoms such as indigestion, gastric fullness or pain consecutively underwent C-14 UBT, GBx and C-13 UBT within one week before medications. For the C-14 UBT, a single breath sample was collected at 10 minutes after ingestion of C-14 urea (37 KBq) capsule and counting was done in a liquid scintillation counter for 1 minute, and the results were classified as positive (> or =200 dpm), intermediate (50~199 dpm) or negative (<50 dpm). For the C-13 UBT, the results were classified as positive (> or =2.5 permill) or negative (<2.5 permill). The results of GBx with Giemsa stain were graded 0 (normal) to 4 (diffuse) according to the distribution of H. pylori by the Wyatt method. We compared C-14 UBT and C-13 UBT results with GBx grade as a gold standard. RESULTS: The prevalence of H. pylori infection by GBx with Giemsa stain was 25/38 (65.8%). In the assessment of the presence of H. pylori infection, the C-14 UBT global performance yielded sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV) and accuracy of 92.0%, 92.3%, 95.8%, 91.7% and 92.1%, respectively. However, the C-13 UBT had sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV and accuracy of 96.0%, 84.6%, 92.3%, 91.7% and 92.1%, respectively. The more significant correlation in C-14 than C-13 UBT (r=0.948 vs r=0.819, p<0.001) was found between the value of UBT and the grade of distribution of H. pylori infection. CONCLUSION: We conclude that the diagnostic performance between C-14 and C-13 UBT to detect H. pylori infection is not significantly different, but the value of C-14 UBT more significantly reflects the degree of bacterial distribution.
Azure Stains ; Biopsy ; Breath Tests ; Dyspepsia ; Eating ; Helicobacter ; Helicobacter pylori ; Humans ; Organothiophosphorus Compounds ; Prevalence ; Scintillation Counting ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Urea ; Urease