Hell J Nucl Med
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In nearly 20%-30% of patients with differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC) relapse and 7% of them die during the next 10 years after initial diagnosis. In 10%-30% of patients with DTC after ablation therapy during the follow-up show a negative iodine-131 (131I) whole-body screening test (131I WBS) and increased serum thyroglobulin (Tg) level. Loss of ability of DTC metastatic lesions to trap 131I is associated with pure survival and often aggressive disease. Several studies have shown that in DTC cases non trapping 131I, fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (18F-FDG PET) can detect recurrence or metastases with high sensitivity (80%-90%). The purpose of this study was to investigate the clinicopathologic features and other related risk factors of patients with DTC having elevated Tg levels and negative 131I WBS in which recurrence was detected by 18F-FDG PET/CT. We tried to study and stratify patients in this grey zone who could benefit from 18F-FDG PET/CT for the detection of metastases/recurrence according to predefined risk factors not investigated by other researchers. ⋯ The most important factors affecting a true positive 18F-FDG PET/CT study were: ETE, high total 131I dose and the SUVmax values over 4.5.
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The objective of this study was to examine sedation practices for paediatric nuclear medicine examinations. ⋯ The sedation practices varied considerably among Danish nuclear medicine departments. The sedation of children in clinical practice seemed to be more prevalent than is recommended by guidelines.
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Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of irreversible dementia, affecting mostly the presenile and senile age, shaping a tragic profile in the epilogue of the life of the suffering people. Due to the severity and the social impact of the disease an ongoing research activity is in climax nowadays, associated with many legal, social, ethical, humanitarian, philosophical and economic considerations. From the neuropathological point of view the disease is characterized by dendritic pathology, loss of synapses and dendritic spines, affecting mostly selective neuronal networks of critical importance for memory and cognition, such as the basal forebrain cholinergic system, the medial temporal regions, the hippocampus and many neocortical association areas. ⋯ Pericytes may serve as integrators, coordinators and effectors of blood-brain barrier structure and maintenance, and play a key role in microvascular stability, capillary density and angiogenesis. The correlation between AD pathology and vascular pathology, at the level of brain capillaries and BBB, raises the rational question, whether the efficient treatment of the vascular factor might be beneficial for the patients who suffer from AD. It is reasonable that any protection of the brain capillaries at the initial stages of the disease might contribute in the abbreviation of the long chain of pathological alteration, which occur following the disruption of the BBB, which serves as the essential interface between the vascular system and the brain.
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This retrospective study was carried out to determine the typical patterns of (18)F-FDG uptake in uncomplicated total hip arthroplasty (THA). ⋯ Uptake of (18)F-FDG in the asymptomatic patients with THA is commonly visualized and appears to be confined to the proximal segment of the prosthesis with minimal or no activity in its femoral segment.
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Primary pulmonary artery sarcoma (PAS) is a rare and highly lethal tumor. Here, we report a case of a 53-year-old female with PAS who was initially diagnosed with chronic pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE) based on the results of a transthoracic Doppler echocardiogram, a contrast-enhanced computed tomography angiography, and a ventilation/perfusion lung scan. ⋯ We emphasize the difficulties in diagnosing PAS, the need to investigate this neoplasm in the differential diagnosis of PTE, the diagnostic value of different imaging techniques in the identification of the the tumor, and the efficacy of adjuvant chemotherapy in prolonging survival.