Breast-specific gamma imaging (BSGI) and positron emission mammography (PEM) have the high resolution in diagnosing breast lesions with minimum diameter of 3 mm.Both BSGI and PEM are functional imaging modalities,which have no relation with breast tissue density,implanted prosthesis,scar formation and so on.This review elaborates the application of BSGI and PEM in the early diagnosis,treatment protocols and evaluation of efficacy for the patients with breast cancer.

Bile Ducts, Intrahepatic ; Dilatation, Pathologic ; Humans ; Synchrotrons

Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; blood supply ; diagnostic imaging ; Humans ; Liver Neoplasms ; blood supply ; diagnostic imaging ; Microvessels ; diagnostic imaging ; Neovascularization, Pathologic ; diagnostic imaging ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; methods

Objective To retrospectively evaluate the value of SPECT/CT imaging for follow-up of bone metastases.Methods A total of 178 patients with bone metastases (387 lesions) underwent 2 or more events of whole-body bone scintigraphy (WBS) and SPECT/CT imaging.Sequential images were analyzed by 2 experienced,nuclear medicine physicians.Each lesion was interpreted as progressive,remissive or stable in WBS or SPECT/CT independently.Reasons for the discordance between WBS and SPECT/CT results were analyzed.The results of clinical follow-up,including clinical symptoms,tumor markers,serum ALP,radiograph,CT and MRI,were likewise classified as progressive,remissive or stable.The x2 test was used to compare the differences between the two imaging methods.Results The follow-up results of the two imaging methods were consistent in 313 (80.88％,313/387) lesions,including 208 in progression and 105 in remission or stable condition.Among the 74(19.12％,74/387) lesions showing discordance,48 showed remission or stable conditions on WBS but progression on SPECT/CT (64.86％,48/74) ; while 26 showed progression on WBS but remission or stable condition on SPECT/CT (35.14％,26/74).There was a statistically significant difference of the follow-up results between WBS and SPECT/CT (x2 =6.54,P ＜0.05).Conclusion SPECT/CT is more valuable than WBS for follow-up of bone metastases.

Objective To investigate the added value of CTAC for improving image quality and diagnostic efficiency of bone imaging in SPECT/CT.Methods Seventy-five patients (47 males,28 females,(56.6± 12.8) years) with abnormal uptake in planar whole-body bone scintigraphy underwent SPECT/CTfor differentiation of malignant from benign spinal lesions.NAC and CTAC SPECT images were classified based on 5-point scale (5:excellent,4:good,3:adequate,2:suboptimal,1:inadequate).The diagnostic confidence for both NAC and CTAC SPECT images were classified based on 4-point scale (4:definite,3:certain,2:equivocal,1:uninterpretable).The pathological results after surgery were used as gold standard to evaluate the added diagnostic value of CTAC for spinal lesions.Wilcoxon-signed rank sum test was used for data analysis.Results CTAC improved the image quality in 37.3％ (28/75) of patients,and downgraded in 2.7％ (2/75) of patients.The remaining 45 patients were unchanged (60.0％,45/75).SPECT with CTAC could significantly improve the image quality (z=-4.747,P＜0.001),but the overall diagnostic confidence was not increased (z=-1.000,P＞0.05).Conclusion CTAC can improve the image quality of spinal SPECT,especially useful in imaging with poorer quality,but it has no significant incremental value in diagnostic confidence.

Objective: To explore the sensitivity and specificity of the Chinese version of the volume and viscosity swallowing test with modified safety and effectiveness indicators (VVST-CV) in assessing deglutition disorders. Methods: The solvent, volume, viscosity, and test index of the volume and viscosity swallowing test were modified before it was used to evaluate 89 patients with swallowing disorders. The positive rates of the safety indexes (coughing, voice changes and blood oxygen saturation decline at least 3%) and the efficiency indexes (poor lip closure, oral residue, pharynx residue and swallowing) were recorded and compared and compared with the positive rates of penetration, aspiration and food residue determined by means of according to the videofluoroscopic swallowing study, then the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of the modified VVST-CV with regard to the safety and efficiency of swallowing were calculated. Results: The VVST-CV′s sensitivity in detecting dysphagia was 0.97. For impaired safety it was 0.85 and for impaired swallowing efficiency it was 0.95. The sensitivity of the coughing index was 0.65, that of sound change was 0.60 and that of oxygen saturation decrease was 0.42. The positive predictive values for coughing, sound change and oxygen saturation decrease were 0.98, 0.94 and 0.94, respectively. Conclusion The VVST-CV is simple, feasible and sensitive. It can be widely useful in the evaluation of dysphagia in clinical practice.

Objective:To analyze the 99 Tcm-methylene diphosphonate single photon emission computed tomography/spiral computed tomography (SPECT/CT)fusion imaging of bone metastases in patients with lung cancer and to evaluate the value of SPECT/CT in differentiating metastases from benign bone lesions.Methods:A total of 113 patients with bone metastases from lung cancer confirmed by pathology underwent bone scintigraphy and SPECT/CT imaging.Metastatic bone sites,quantity,up-take of radiotracer,and CT manifestations of each lesion were analyzed via bone scintigraphy imaging and SPECT/CT fusion imaging.Results:A total of 482 lesions from 113 patients were analyzed in this study.Among them,429 lesions were metasta-ses.Metastatic sites included spine(50.6%),thorax (29.1% ),pelvis (17.0%),extremities (2.1%),and skull(2.1%).CT manifestations were osteoblastic (41.0%),osteolytic (50.3%),mixed (4.0%),and normal (4.7%).Among these lesions, the proportion of hot spots displayed on SPECT/CT pictures was 90.7%(389/429),and the proportion of lesions with normal uptake of radiotracer was 9.3%(40/429).There were 53 benign lesions in 23 patients with bone metastasis.Conclusions:The most frequent metastatic sites in patients with lung cancer are spine and thorax.Bone metastasis from squamous carcinoma is more com-mon than from other types of lung cancer.The common CT manifestations are osteoblastic.The sensitivity and specificity of SPECT/CT fusion images for the diagnosis of bone metastatic lesions of lung cancer are high.

Background and objective The pathological types of lung ground glass nodules(GGNs)show great significance to the clinical treatment.This study was aimed to predict pathological types of GGNs based on computed tomog-raphy(CT)quantitative parameters.Methods 389 GGNs confirmed by postoperative pathology were selected,including 138 cases of precursor glandular lesions[atypical adenomatous hyperplasia(AAH)and adenocarcinoma in situ(AIS)],109 cases of microinvasive adenocarcinoma(MIA)and 142 cases of invasive adenocarcinoma(IAC).The morphological characteristics of nodules were evaluated subjectively by radiologist,as well as artificial intelligence(AI).Results In the subjective CT signs,the maximum diameter of nodule and the frequency of spiculation,lobulation and pleural traction increased from AAH+AIS,MIA to IAC.In the AI quantitative parameters,parameters related to size and CT value,proportion of solid component,energy and entropy increased from AAH+AIS,MIA to IAC.There was no significant difference between AI quantitative parameters and the subjective CT signs for distinguishing the pathological types of GGNs.Conclusion AI quantitative parameters were valu-able in distinguishing the pathological types of GGNs.

Objective:To explore the application of digital acoustic analysis in assessing the risk of aspiration among persons with dysphagia using the Praat speech analysis software.Methods:The swallowing of 46 stroke survivors with dysphagia was studied using video fluoroscopy. Each patient was required to pronounce " yi/i/" 3 times before and after taking each mouthful of food, and their voice samples were collected. The subjects were divided into a non-aspiration group of 16 and an aspiration group of 30 based on their penetration-aspiration scale scores. Fundamental frequency, relative average perturbation (RAP), jitter, shimmer, amplitude perturbation quotient and harmonic-to-noise ratio were compared between the two groups before and after taking food.Results:For the non-aspiration group, there was no significant difference in the acoustic data before and after eating. For the aspiration group there were significant differences in fundamental frequency, relative average perturbation and jitter before and after taking food. The average RAP and jitter of the non-aspiration group were significantly better than the aspiration group′s averages before eating. After eating, however, significant differences were observed only in average jitter.Conclusions:Analyzing perturbation and jitter can help to identify persons at risk of aspiration.

Objective:To explore the effect of the pharyngeal pressure feedback training on pharyngeal constriction in persons with swallowing disorders caused by brainstem lesions.Methods:Twenty patients with disordered swallowing caused by a brainstem lesion were randomly divided into a control group and an intervention group, each of 10. Both groups received routine swallowing training including oral sensorimotor training, neuromuscular stimulation and balloon catheter dilation, while the intervention group was additionally provided with two weeks of pharyngeal pressure feedback training. Before and after the treatment, both groups were evaluated in terms of the peak pressure of superior and inferior pharyngeal constriction, endoscopically and also using the functional oral intake scale.Results:There was no significant difference between the two groups in any measure before the intervention. Afterward, both groups had improved significantly by all of the measurements, but the average peak upper pharyngeal pressure, the average intake scale score and the endoscopy results of the intervention group were all significantly better than the control group′s averages.Conclusions:Pharyngeal pressure feedback training can significantly relieve swallowing disorders caused by brainstem lesions.