The Journal of Nuclear Medicine back issues from March 2008:
Perception of the Role of Nuclear Medicine in Clinical Practice in Nigeria
Mar 01, 2008; ... From the Newsline editor: Across the globe, the practice of nuclear medicine depends on the sometimes difficult-toachieve confluence of skilled practitioners, specialized equipment, and readily available supplies of short-lived radionuclides. As a result of variations in each of these crucial ...
"Image Gently" Alliance Targets Pediatric Radiation Awareness
Mar 01, 2008; ... A multisociety alliance announced in January the launch of the Image Gently campaign, which will promote awareness of measures to minimize both single and cumulative radiation exposure to pediatric patients. Founding members of the Alliance for Radiation Safety in Pediatric Imaging include the ...
Clinical MI: Breast Cancer
Mar 01, 2008; ... MOLECULAR IMAGING UPDATE Mammographic screening for breast cancer has resulted in a documented reduction in mortality, but sensitivity remains a problem, particularly in densebreasted women for whom the superposition of tissue in the image reduces detectability. To address this, ...
Final HOPPS and MPFS Rules/CMS Coding Changes
Mar 01, 2008; ... HEALTH POLICY AND REGULATORY AFFAIRS UPDATE On January 28, 2008, SNM sent comments to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) regarding the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (HOPPS) and the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) final rules for calendar year ...
MOC Part II: Frequently Asked Questions
Mar 01, 2008; ... MAINTENANCE OF CERTIFICATION Now that maintenance of certification (MOC) requirements are a reality, diplomates and boards are confronted with many questions about implementation. Because MOC is an evolving process, American Board of Nuclear Medicine (ABNM) policies may change ....
Industry Agreement to Increase U.S. ^sup 111^In Supply
Mar 01, 2008; ... On January 15, Advanced Medical Isotope Corporation (AMIC; Kennewick, WA) announced the execution of a 5-year agreement with Central Radiopharmaceutical Services, Inc. (CRS; Buffalo, NY), for the joint production and marketing of ^sup 111^In. The comprehensive agreement with CRS is designed to ...
Multidisciplinary Lung Cancer Clinic
Mar 01, 2008; ... The Seattle (WA) Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA) announced on January 16 the opening of a multidisciplinary clinic designed for current and former smokers, including assessment of chronic and acute lung conditions and assistance with smoking cessation. "Based upon what we know about early versus ...
NIST Describes Radioactive "Understudy"
Mar 01, 2008; ... In a public press release issued on January 8 and picked up by print and Web media, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) described a partnership with the private sector to explore the use of ^sup 68^Ge as a calibration surrogate for ^sup 18^F. The release reviewed the ...
AHRQ Faults Error Reporting Systems
Mar 01, 2008; ... A study released on January 9 by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) suggests that inadequate reporting systems are to blame for low rates of reported errors rather than a reluctance on the part of U.S. physicians to address current and future error. The study found that most ...
Chiropractor Exception Eliminated by CMS
Mar 01, 2008; ... As of January 1, imaging specialists could no longer order studies for Medicare patients referred by chiropractors in a nonhospital setting. The 2008 Medicare Fee Schedule Final Rule eliminated the "chiropractor exception," which allowed nontreating physicians (such as radiologists) to order ...
Clinical Trial Information for Seniors
Mar 01, 2008; ... The National Institutes of Health announced in January the release of a new clinical trials topic area at www. nihseniorhealth.gov, a Web site developed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) and the National Institute on Aging (NIA). "Older adults who log on to NIHSeniorHealth.gov will find ...
Call for Fermi Award Nominations
Mar 01, 2008; ... The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced on January 7 a call for nominations for the 2008 Enrico Fermi Award. This Presidential Award is the oldest science and technology honor given by the U.S. government. The Enrico Fermi Award is given by the DOE Office of Science to encourage excellence ...
NCRP Annual Meeting
Mar 01, 2008; ... The 44th annual meeting of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP), to be held April 14 and 15 in Bethesda, MD, will focus on low-dose and low-doserate effects and models. The theme was chosen because of considerable current interest in the potential human health ...
SNM Launches Daily E-News
Mar 01, 2008; ... SNM announced in January the initiation of a collaboration with SmartBrief, Inc. (Washington, DC), to bring the professional community daily e-mail briefs on nuclear medicine and molecular imaging. The service, which began on January 14, includes clinical, research, and industry news gathered ...
Autoantibodies and Chronic Heart Failure
Mar 01, 2008; ... DIAGNOSIS In an article e-published on January 14 ahead of print in the International Journal of Cardiology, Aso et al. from the Shinshu University School of Medicine (Matsumuto, Japan) reported on a study using ^sup 123^I-MIBG scintigraphy to investigate the relationship between cardiac ...
PET and Renovascular Disease
Mar 01, 2008; ... In an article e-published on January 2 ahead of print in Hypertension, Xia et al. from the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions (Baltimore, MD) and the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine (Rochester, MN) reported on in vivo PET imaging and in vitro quantitative autoradiography of the angiotensin II ...
Systolic Dysfunction in Renal Transplantation
Mar 01, 2008; ... Siedlecki et al. from Washington University (St. Louis, MO) and the University of Alabama (Birmingham) reported in the December 27 issue of Transplantation (2007;84:1610-1617) on a study using SPECT to assess the effect of left ventricular systolic dysfunction on survival after renal ...
Anesthetic Effect of Xenon
Mar 01, 2008; ... Salmi et al. from the Turku PET Center (Finland) reported in the January issue of Anesthesia and Analgesia (2008;106:129-134) on a study using ^sup 11^C-flumazenil PET to study the effect of xenon on γ-aminobutyric acid type A (GABA[A]) receptors in an effort to elucidate the mechanism of ...
Age, rCBF, and Thirst
Mar 01, 2008; ... Farrell et al. from the University of Melbourne (Parkville, Australia) reported in the January issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA (2008;105:382-387) on a PET study assessing age-related changes in brain responses to thirst and drinking in healthy men. The study ...
PET and Effects of Food Restriction
Mar 01, 2008; ... Thanos et al. from the Brookhaven National Laboratory (Upton, NY) reported in the January issue of Synapse (2008;62:50-61) on a PET study assessing the effects of food restriction on dopamine D2 receptors in a genetic rodent model of obesity characterized by leptin-receptor deficiency. The ...
PET in Cholangiocarcinoma
Mar 01, 2008; ... Kim et al. from the University of Ulsan College of Medicine (Seoul, Korea) reported on January 2 ahead of print in the American Journal of Gastroenterology on a study comparing the clinical roles of ^sup 18^F-FDG PET/CT and conventional imaging in patients with suspected and potentially operable ...
PET in Pancreatic Cancer Surgery
Mar 01, 2008; ... Wakabayashi et al. from Kagawa University (Japan) reported in the January 7 issue of the World Journal of Gastroenterology (2008;14:64-69) on a study evaluating the role ^sup 18^FFDG PET in the surgical management of patients with pancreatic cancer, including diagnosis, staging, and selection of ...
Primary Tumor SUV and NSCLC
Mar 01, 2008; ... In the January issue of the Journal of Thoracic Oncology (2008;3:6-12), Berghmans and members of the European Lung Cancer Working Party for the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer reported on a metaanalysis of the literature conducted to derive a consensus view of the ...
RIT/Chemotherapy in NHL
Mar 01, 2008; ... THERAPY In an article e-published on January 11 ahead of print in Cancer, Zinzani et al. from the University of Bologna (Italy) reported on the results of a prospective, single-arm, openlabel, nonrandomized phase 2 trial of combined fludarabine and mitoxantrone chemomerapy plus ...
Tracking Monocytes in Atherosclerotic Lesions
Mar 01, 2008; ... In an article e-published on January 2 ahead of print in Circulation, Kircher et al. from the Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and Brigham and Women's Hospital (Boston, MA) reported on the development of a noninvasive technique for in vivo imaging of monocyte trafficking ...
Ultrasound and Antiangiogenic Therapy
Mar 01, 2008; ... Palmowski et al. from the German Cancer Research Center (Heidelberg) reported in the January issue of Molecular Cancer Therapy (2008;7: 101-109) on a targeted ultrasound assessment of the early effects of antiangiogenic therapy. The researchers generated cyanoacrylate microbubbles linked to ...
SPECT/CT in Cardiac Transplantation
Mar 01, 2008; ... Rao and colleagues from the Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN) and the University of Pavia (Italy) reported in the December 27 issue of Transplantation (2007;84:1552-1666) on the feasibility of SPECT/CT imaging and quantification of cardiac gene expression after sodium iodide symporter (hNIS) gene ...
Molecular Scintigraphy of Neuroendocrine Tumors
Mar 01, 2008; ... In an article e-published on January 14 ahead of print in Neuroendocrinology, Binderup et al. from the University of Copenhagen (Denmark) reported on a study designed to quantify gene expression underlying the results of somatostatin receptor (sst) scintigraphy with ^sup 111^In-DTPA-octreotide ...
Consensus Report on Gastric Emptying: What's Needed to Prevent Tarnishing a Gold Standard?
Mar 01, 2008; ... This editorial is to call to the attention of the nuclear medicine community a new consensus repon that establishes a standardized methodology for performing gastric-emptying studies. This consensus was achieved after a series of meetings jointly sponsored by the SNM Gastroenterology Council and ...
The Promise of Locoregional Radiopharmaceutical Therapy: Will It Ever Be Realized?
Mar 01, 2008; ... An excellent retrospective review by Boucher et al. in this issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine underscores what most of us have accepted as conventional wisdom-that locoregional adjuvant therapy with radiolabeled lipiodol increases disease-free and perhaps overall survival in patients with ...
Current and Potential Applications of Clinical ^sup 13^C MR Spectroscopy
Mar 01, 2008; ... In this article, the current and potential clinical roles of ^sup 13^C magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) and ^sup 13^C magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging are presented, with a focus on applications to prostate cancer and hyperpolarized ^sup 13^C spectroscopic imaging. The advantages of ...
VP-PET: A New Imaging Modality?
Mar 01, 2008; ... It is unusual for a relatively mature field such as nuclear medicine to see an innovation akin to a new imaging modality. Almough in its preliminary stages, the work by Tai et al. (1) on pages 471-479 of this issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine describes a novel concept that could ...
1-^sup 11^C-Methyl-4-Piperidinyl-N-Butyrate Radiation Dosimetry in Humans by Dynamic Organ-Specific Evaluation
Mar 01, 2008; ... Deficits of cholinergic neurotransmission contribute to various neurologic and psychiatric conditions. The neurotransmitter acetylcholine is hydrolyzed in the synaptic clefts by 2 enzymes, acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE). 1-[^sup ...
Erratum
Mar 01, 2008; ... The authors of "A Comparison of the Diagnostic Accuracy of 18F-FDG PET and CT in the Characterization of Solitary Pulmonary Nodules" (Fletcher et al. J Nucl Med. 2008;49:179-185) inadvertently omitted a listing of the contributors and contributing sites of the SNAP Investigative Group. The ...
Staging Pathways in Recurrent Colorectal Carcinoma: Is Contrast-Enhanced ^sup 18^F-FDG PET/CT the Diagnostic Tool of Choice?
Mar 01, 2008; ... ^sup 18^F-FDG PET/CT has gained wide acceptance for evaluation of recurrent colorectal carcinoma. However in clinical practice, contrast-enhanced CT (ceCT) is still the first-line restaging tool. The aim of this study was to investigate the value of contrast-enhanced PET/CT (cePET/CT) as a ...
Adjuvant Intraarterial Injection of ^sup 131^I-Labeled Lipiodol After Resection of Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Progress Report of a Case-Control Study with a 5-Year Minimal Follow-up
Mar 01, 2008; ... Recurrences after resection of hepatocellular carcinoma are frequent. A single postoperative injection of ^sup 131^I-labeled lipiodol in the hepatic artery was shown in 1999 by Lau and colleagues to be an effective adjuvant treatment, and those results were strengthened by our experience with a ...
Quantitative Imaging of Estrogen Receptor Expression in Breast Cancer with PET and ^sup 18^F-Fluoroestradiol
Mar 01, 2008; ... The PET compound ^sup 18^F-fluoroestradiol (^sup 18^F-FES) has been developed and tested as an agent for the imaging of estrogen receptor (ER) expression in vivo. ^sup 18^F-FES uptake has been shown to correlate with ER expression assayed in vitro by radioligand binding; however, ...
Quantitative Measurements of Bone Remodeling Using ^sup 99m^Tc-Methylene Diphosphonate Bone Scans and Blood Sampling
Mar 01, 2008; ... Quantitative studies of bone using ^sup 99m^Tc-methylene diphosphonate (^sup 99m^Tc-MDP) have a potentially valuable role in investigating the treatment of patients with metabolic bone disease. In this study we compared 3 different methods of measuring whole-skeleton ^sup 99m^Tc-MDP plasma ...
MRI-Based Correction for Partial-Volume Effect Improves Detectability of Intractable Epileptogenic Foci on ^sup 123^I-Iomazenil Brain SPECT Images
Mar 01, 2008; ... ^sup 123^I-Iomazenil brain SPECT has been used for the detection of epileptogenic foci, especially when surgical intervention is considered. Although epileptogenic foci exhibit a decrease in ^sup 123^I-iomazenil accumulation, normal cerebral cortices often exhibit similar findings because of ...
Multicenter Standardized ^sup 18^F-FDG PET Diagnosis of Mild Cognitive Impairment, Alzheimer's Disease, and Other Dementias
Mar 01, 2008; ... This multicenter study examined ^sup 18^F-FDG PET measures in the differential diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD), frontotemporal dementia (FTD), and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) from normal aging and from each other and the relation of disease-specific patterns to mild cognitive ...
Nuclear Cardiac Stress Testing in the Era of Molecular Medicine*
Mar 01, 2008; ... The objective of cardiac stress testing is to detect coronary artery disease (CAD) and to prevent future adverse events, such as myocardial infarction or death. The progression from electrocardiographically based stress testing to current SPECT and PET technologies has brought improvements in ...
Characterization of Osteolytic, Osteoblastic, and Mixed Lesions in a Prostate Cancer Mouse Model Using ^sup 18^F-FDG and ^sup 18^F-Fluoride PET/CT
Mar 01, 2008; ... The combination of small-animal PET/CT scans and conventional imaging methods may enhance the evaluation of in vivo biologic interactions of murine models in the study of prostate cancer metastasis to bone. Methods: Small-animal PET/CT scans using ^sup 18^F-fluoride ion and ^sup 18^F-FDG ...
Dynamic Small-Animal PET Imaging of Tumor Proliferation with 3'-Deoxy-3'-^sup 18^F-Fluorothymidine in a Genetically Engineered Mouse Model of High-Grade Gliomas
Mar 01, 2008; ... 3'-Deoxy-3'-^sup 18^F-fluorothymidine (^sup 18^F-FLT), a partially metabolized thymidine analog, has been used in preclinical and clinical settings for the diagnostic evaluation and therapeutic monitoring of tumor proliferation status. We investigated the use of ^sup 18^F-FLT for detecting and ...
Molecular Imaging of bcl-2 Expression in Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma Using ^sup 111^In-Labeled PNA-Peptide Conjugates
Mar 01, 2008; ... The bcl-2 gene is overexpressed in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), such as small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL), and many other cancers. Noninvasive imaging of bcl-2 expression has the potential to identify patients at risk for relapse or treatment failure. The purpose of this study was to synthesize ...
Canine Anatomic Phantom for Preclinical Dosimetry in Internal Emitter Therapy
Mar 01, 2008; ... The majority of investigational studies of new diagnostic and therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals use murine animal models for preclinical assessments of pharmacokinetics and organ radiation dosimetry. Although mice and rats are widely available and relatively inexpensive, their smaller organ ...
Whole-Body Biodistribution and Radiation Dosimetry of the Human Cannabinoid Type-1 Receptor Ligand ^sup 18^F-MK-9470 in Healthy Subjects
Mar 01, 2008; ... The cannabinoid type-1 (CB1) receptor is one of the most abundant G-coupled protein receptors in the human body and is responsible for signal transduction of both endogenous and exogenous cannabinoids. The endocannabinoid system is strongly implicated in regulation of homeostasis and several ...
^sup 18^F-Labeled BBN-RGD Heterodimer for Prostate Cancer Imaging
Mar 01, 2008; ... Both bombesin (BBN) analogs and cyclic RGD peptides have been suitably radiolabeled for prostate cancer imaging. However, the limited expression of gastrin-releasing peptide receptor (GRPR) and integrin α^sub v^β^sub 3^ as well as unfavorable in vivo kinetics limited further ...
Benefit of Time-of-Flight in PET: Experimental and Clinical Results
Mar 01, 2008; ... Significant improvements have made it possible to add the technology of time-of-flight (TOF) to improve PET, particularly for oncology applications. The goals of this work were to investigate the benefits of TOF in experimental phantoms and to determine how these benefits translate into improved ...
Virtual-Pinhole PET
Mar 01, 2008; ... We proposed and tested a novel geometry for PET system design analogous to pinhole SPECT called the virtual-pinhole PET (VP-PET) geometry to determine whether it could provide high-resolution images. Methods: We analyzed the effects of photon acolinearity and detector sizes on system resolution ...
Radiation Protection in the Health Sciences
Mar 01, 2008; ... Radiation Protection in the Health Sciences M.E. Noz and G.Q. Maguire, Jr. Hackensack, NJ: World Scientific, 2007, 324 pages, $85 Radiation Protection in the Health Sciences is a textbook on the basic principles and practices of radiation protection, primarily as it pertains to the ...
Recommendations on the Use of ^sup 18^F-FDG PET in Oncology
Mar 01, 2008; ... The rationale was to develop recommendations on the use of ^sup 18^F-FDG PET in breast, colorectal, esophageal, head and neck, lung, pancreatic, and thyroid cancer; lymphoma, melanoma, and sarcoma; and unknown primary tumor. Outcomes of interest included the use of ^sup 18^F-FDG PET for ...
MR Imaging of [alpha]^sub v^[beta]^sub 3^ Integrin Expression in Plaques
Mar 01, 2008; ... MOLECULAR IMAGING Burtea et al. from the University of Mons-Hainaut (Belgium) reported on January 10 ahead of print in Cardiovascular Research on a study assessing MR imaging of plaque-associated α^sub v^β^sub 3^ integrin expression in transgenic ApoE mice with a ...
[beta]2-nAChR Availability in PTSD
Mar 01, 2008; ... In an article e-published on January 11 ahead of print in the International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology, Czermak et al. from the Yale University School of Medicine (New Haven, CT) and the Veterans Affairs Connecticut Healthcare System (West Haven) reported on a study of nicotinic ...
Working Together to Create the Future
Mar 01, 2008; ... SNM LEADERSHIP UPDATE Synergy. It rhymes with "energy," and that is exactly what is generated when the brightest minds in medicine, technology, industry, and communications come together for a week of sharing research, comparing therapies, and moving forward in the ever-evolving field of ...
Health Care Spending Growth Slows
Mar 01, 2008; ... NEWS BRIEFS A report released on January 8 by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) indicated that U.S. health care spending growth accelerated only slightly in 2006 but still outpaced growth in both the general economy and the inflation rate. In 2006, health care ...