Nuclear cardiology, similar to other fields of nuclear medicine, has experience rapid advancements. Myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI), an important component of nuclear cardiology that commenced in the 1970s, plays a crucial role in the non-invasive evaluation and management of coronary artery disease. Over the past decade, MPI has witnessed significant changes and advancements. The introduction of gamma cameras using cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) systems, accompanied by advancements in related software, represents a notable development in this nuclear cardiology. Ongoing research and development effects are actively exploring new radiopharmaceuticals, with a particular focus on their application in positron emission tomography (PET)-MPI. Furthermore, studies have been conducted highlighting the necessity and benefits of hybrid imaging. However, as with other cutting-edge technologies, the practical application of the latest equipment and techniques in nuclear cardiology faces challenges stemming from their high costs of equipment and examinations and limited accessibility, which continue to remain significant barriers in nuclear medicine.

Nuclear cardiology, similar to other fields of nuclear medicine, has experience rapid advancements. Myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI), an important component of nuclear cardiology that commenced in the 1970s, plays a crucial role in the non-invasive evaluation and management of coronary artery disease. Over the past decade, MPI has witnessed significant changes and advancements. The introduction of gamma cameras using cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) systems, accompanied by advancements in related software, represents a notable development in this nuclear cardiology. Ongoing research and development effects are actively exploring new radiopharmaceuticals, with a particular focus on their application in positron emission tomography (PET)-MPI. Furthermore, studies have been conducted highlighting the necessity and benefits of hybrid imaging. However, as with other cutting-edge technologies, the practical application of the latest equipment and techniques in nuclear cardiology faces challenges stemming from their high costs of equipment and examinations and limited accessibility, which continue to remain significant barriers in nuclear medicine.

Nuclear cardiology, similar to other fields of nuclear medicine, has experience rapid advancements. Myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI), an important component of nuclear cardiology that commenced in the 1970s, plays a crucial role in the non-invasive evaluation and management of coronary artery disease. Over the past decade, MPI has witnessed significant changes and advancements. The introduction of gamma cameras using cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) systems, accompanied by advancements in related software, represents a notable development in this nuclear cardiology. Ongoing research and development effects are actively exploring new radiopharmaceuticals, with a particular focus on their application in positron emission tomography (PET)-MPI. Furthermore, studies have been conducted highlighting the necessity and benefits of hybrid imaging. However, as with other cutting-edge technologies, the practical application of the latest equipment and techniques in nuclear cardiology faces challenges stemming from their high costs of equipment and examinations and limited accessibility, which continue to remain significant barriers in nuclear medicine.

Nuclear cardiology, similar to other fields of nuclear medicine, has experience rapid advancements. Myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI), an important component of nuclear cardiology that commenced in the 1970s, plays a crucial role in the non-invasive evaluation and management of coronary artery disease. Over the past decade, MPI has witnessed significant changes and advancements. The introduction of gamma cameras using cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) systems, accompanied by advancements in related software, represents a notable development in this nuclear cardiology. Ongoing research and development effects are actively exploring new radiopharmaceuticals, with a particular focus on their application in positron emission tomography (PET)-MPI. Furthermore, studies have been conducted highlighting the necessity and benefits of hybrid imaging. However, as with other cutting-edge technologies, the practical application of the latest equipment and techniques in nuclear cardiology faces challenges stemming from their high costs of equipment and examinations and limited accessibility, which continue to remain significant barriers in nuclear medicine.

Nuclear cardiology, similar to other fields of nuclear medicine, has experience rapid advancements. Myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI), an important component of nuclear cardiology that commenced in the 1970s, plays a crucial role in the non-invasive evaluation and management of coronary artery disease. Over the past decade, MPI has witnessed significant changes and advancements. The introduction of gamma cameras using cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) systems, accompanied by advancements in related software, represents a notable development in this nuclear cardiology. Ongoing research and development effects are actively exploring new radiopharmaceuticals, with a particular focus on their application in positron emission tomography (PET)-MPI. Furthermore, studies have been conducted highlighting the necessity and benefits of hybrid imaging. However, as with other cutting-edge technologies, the practical application of the latest equipment and techniques in nuclear cardiology faces challenges stemming from their high costs of equipment and examinations and limited accessibility, which continue to remain significant barriers in nuclear medicine.

Purpose: Predicting human papillomavirus (HPV) status is critical in oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) radiomics. In this study, we developed a model for HPV status prediction using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) radiomics and18F-fluorodeoxyglucose ( 18F-FDG) positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) parameters in patients withOPSCC. Materials and Methods: Patients with OPSCC who underwent 18F-FDG PET/CT and contrast-enhanced MRI before treatment between January 2012 and February 2020 were enrolled. Training and test sets (3:2) were randomly selected. 18F-FDG PET/CT parameters and MRI radiomics feature were extracted. We developed three light-gradient boosting machine prediction models using the training set: Model 1, MRI radiomics features; Model 2, 18F-FDG PET/CT parameters; and Model 3, combination of MRI radiomics features and 18F-FDG PET/CT parameters. Area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) values were used to analyze the performance of the models in predicting HPV status in the test set. Results: A total of 126 patients (118 male and 8 female; mean age: 60 years) were included. Of these, 103 patients (81.7%) were HPV-positive, and 23 patients (18.3%) were HPV-negative. AUROC values in the test set were 0.762 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.564–0.959], 0.638 (95% CI, 0.404–0.871), and 0.823 (95% CI, 0.668–0.978) for Models 1, 2, and 3, respectively. The net reclassification improvement of Model 3, compared with that of Model 1, in the test set was 0.119. Conclusion When combined with an MRI radiomics model, 18F-FDG PET/CT exhibits incremental value in predicting HPV status in patients with OPSCC.

Purpose: This multi-center, retrospective study was conducted to evaluate the long-term survival in patients who underwent surgical resection for small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and to identify the benefit of adjuvant therapy following surgery. Materials and Methods: The data of 213 patients who underwent surgical resection for SCLC at four institutions were retrospectively reviewed. Patients who received neoadjuvant therapy or an incomplete resection were excluded. Results: The mean patient age was 65.29±8.93 years, and 184 patients (86.4%) were male. Lobectomies and pneumonectomies were performed in 173 patients (81.2%), and 198 (93%) underwent systematic mediastinal lymph node dissections. Overall, 170 patients (79.8%) underwent adjuvant chemotherapy, 42 (19.7%) underwent radiotherapy to the mediastinum, and 23 (10.8%) underwent prophylactic cranial irradiation. The median follow-up period was 31.08 months (interquartile range, 13.79 to 64.52 months). The 5-year overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival were 53.4% and 46.9%, respectively. The 5-year OS significantly improved after adjuvant chemotherapy in all patients (57.4% vs. 40.3%, p=0.007), and the survival benefit of adjuvant chemotherapy was significant in patients with negative node pathology (70.8% vs. 39.7%, p=0.004). Adjuvant radiotherapy did not affect the 5-year OS (54.6% vs. 48.5%, p=0.458). Age (hazard ratio [HR], 1.032; p=0.017), node metastasis (HR, 2.190; p < 0.001), and adjuvant chemotherapy (HR, 0.558; p=0.019) were associated with OS. Conclusion Adjuvant chemotherapy after surgical resection in patients with SCLC improved the OS, though adjuvant radiotherapy to the mediastinum did not improve the survival or decrease the locoregional recurrence rate.

Objective: To develop and test a machine learning model for classifying human papillomavirus (HPV) status of patients with oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) using 18 F-fluorodeoxyglucose ( 18 F-FDG) PET-derived parameters in derived parameters and an appropriate combination of machine learning methods in patients with OPSCC. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study enrolled 126 patients (118 male; mean age, 60 years) with newly diagnosed, pathologically confirmed OPSCC, that underwent 18 F-FDG PET-computed tomography (CT) between January 2012 and February 2020. Patients were randomly assigned to training and internal validation sets in a 7:3 ratio. An external test set of 19 patients (16 male; mean age, 65.3 years) was recruited sequentially from two other tertiary hospitals. Model 1 used only PET parameters, Model 2 used only clinical features, and Model 3 used both PET and clinical parameters. Multiple feature transforms, feature selection, oversampling, and training models are all investigated. The external test set was used to test the three models that performed best in the internal validation set. The values for area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) were compared between models. Results: In the external test set, ExtraTrees-based Model 3, which uses two PET-derived parameters and three clinical features, with a combination of MinMaxScaler, mutual information selection, and adaptive synthetic sampling approach, showed the best performance (AUC = 0.78; 95% confidence interval, 0.46–1). Model 3 outperformed Model 1 using PET parameters alone (AUC = 0.48, p = 0.047) and Model 2 using clinical parameters alone (AUC = 0.52, p = 0.142) in predicting HPV status. Conclusion Using oversampling and mutual information selection, an ExtraTree-based HPV status classifier was developed by combining metabolic parameters derived from 18 F-FDG PET/CT and clinical parameters in OPSCC, which exhibited higher performance than the models using either PET or clinical parameters alone.

Background: The timeline of infections after lung transplantation has been changed with the introduction of new immunosuppressants and prophylaxis strategies. The study aimed to investigate the epidemiological characteristics of infectious diseases after lung transplantation in the current era. Materials and Methods: All patients who underwent lung or heart–lung transplantation at our institution between October 29, 2008 and April 3, 2019 were enrolled. We retrospectively reviewed the patients' medical records till April 2, 2020. Results: In total, 100 consecutive lung transplant recipients were enrolled. The median follow-up period was 28 months after lung transplantation. A total of 127 post–lung transplantation bacterial infections occurred. Catheter-related bloodstream infection (25/84, 29.8%) was the most common within 6 months and pneumonia (23/43, 53.5%) was the most common after 6 months. Most episodes (35/40, 87.5%) of respiratory viral infections occurred after 6 months, mainly as upper respiratory infections. The remaining episodes (5/40, 12.5%) mostly manifested as lower respiratory tract infections. Seventy cytomegalovirus infections observed in 43 patients were divided into 23 episodes occurring before and 47 episodes occurring after discontinuing prophylaxis. Of 10 episodes of cytomegalovirus disease, four occurred during prophylaxis and six occurred after prophylaxis.Of 23 episodes of post–lung transplantation fungal infection, 7 were aspergillosis and all occurred after the discontinuation of prophylaxis. Conclusion Lung transplant recipients experienced a high burden of infection even after 6 months, especially after the end of the prophylaxis period. Therefore, these patients should be continued to be monitored long-term for infectious disease.

Background: The timeline of infections after lung transplantation has been changed with the introduction of new immunosuppressants and prophylaxis strategies. The study aimed to investigate the epidemiological characteristics of infectious diseases after lung transplantation in the current era. Materials and Methods: All patients who underwent lung or heart–lung transplantation at our institution between October 29, 2008 and April 3, 2019 were enrolled. We retrospectively reviewed the patients' medical records till April 2, 2020. Results: In total, 100 consecutive lung transplant recipients were enrolled. The median follow-up period was 28 months after lung transplantation. A total of 127 post–lung transplantation bacterial infections occurred. Catheter-related bloodstream infection (25/84, 29.8%) was the most common within 6 months and pneumonia (23/43, 53.5%) was the most common after 6 months. Most episodes (35/40, 87.5%) of respiratory viral infections occurred after 6 months, mainly as upper respiratory infections. The remaining episodes (5/40, 12.5%) mostly manifested as lower respiratory tract infections. Seventy cytomegalovirus infections observed in 43 patients were divided into 23 episodes occurring before and 47 episodes occurring after discontinuing prophylaxis. Of 10 episodes of cytomegalovirus disease, four occurred during prophylaxis and six occurred after prophylaxis.Of 23 episodes of post–lung transplantation fungal infection, 7 were aspergillosis and all occurred after the discontinuation of prophylaxis. Conclusion Lung transplant recipients experienced a high burden of infection even after 6 months, especially after the end of the prophylaxis period. Therefore, these patients should be continued to be monitored long-term for infectious disease.