The first step to nuclear medicine in Korea started with introduction of the gamma camera in 1969. Although planar images with the gamma camera give important functional information, they have the limitations that result from 2-dimensional images. Single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) due to its 3-dimensional image acquisition is superior to earlier planar gamma imaging in image resolution and diagnostic accuracy. As demand for a hybrid functional and anatomical imaging device has increased, integrated SPECT/CT systems have been used. In Korea, SPECT/CT was for the first time installed in 2003. SPECT/CT can eliminate many possible pitfalls on SPECT-alone images, making better attenuation correction and thereby improving image quality. Therefore, SPECT/CT is clinically preferred in many hospitals in various aspects.More recently, additional SPECT/CT images taken from the region with equivocal uptake on planar images have been helpful in making precise interpretation as part of their clinical workup in postoperative thyroid cancer patients. SPECT and SPECT/CT have various advantages, but its clinical application has gradually decreased in recent few years. While some researchers investigated the myocardial blood flow with cardiac PET using F-18 FDG or N-13 ammonia, myocardial perfusion SPECT is, at present, the radionuclide imaging study of choice for the risk stratification and guiding therapy in the coronary artery disease patients in Korea. New diagnostic radiopharmaceuticals for AD have received increasing attention; nevertheless, brain SPECT will remain the most reliable modality evaluating cerebral perfusion.
Ammonia ; Brain ; Coronary Artery Disease ; Gamma Cameras ; Humans ; Korea ; Nuclear Medicine ; Perfusion ; Radionuclide Imaging ; Radiopharmaceuticals ; Thyroid Neoplasms ; Tomography, Emission-Computed ; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon

We present the cytologic findings observed in a fine needle aspiration biopsy specimen of a rare myxoid variant of leiomyosarcoma with epithelioid features and the tumor had metastasized to the abdominal wall. The aspirate showed hypercellularity in a hemorrhagic background. Some large 3-dimensional aggregates of spindle cells were observed. Each cell had a solitary ovoid-to-elongated nucleus with finely granulated chromatin, one or two small distinct nucleoli and an irregular nuclear membrane. There were irregular fascicles of spindle cells with cigar-shaped, blunt-ended nuclei admixed with inflammatory cells. Epithelioid cells with a rather narrow, dense cytoplasmic rim and a well-defined cell border were embedded in a myxoid matrix in a cord-like and cluster arrangement. The matrix appeared as a pale green substance with sharply defined edges. There were very few mitoses. These cytologic features were the same as those of a uterine myxoid leiomyosarcoma that was surgically excised 7 years ago, and immunohistochemical staining revealed the smooth muscle origin of the tumor.
Abdominal Wall ; Biopsy ; Biopsy, Fine-Needle ; Chromatin ; Cytoplasm ; Epithelioid Cells ; Leiomyosarcoma ; Mitosis ; Muscle, Smooth ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Nuclear Envelope ; Uterus