PET Imaging in Movement Disorders
Positron emission tomography (PET) has revealed key insights into the pathophysiology of movement disorders. This paper will focus on how PET investigations of pathophysiology are particularly relevant to Parkinson disease, a neurodegenerative condition usually starting later in life marked by a varying combination of motor and nonmotor deficits. Various molecular imaging modalities help to determine what changes in brain herald the onset of pathology; can these changes be used to identify presymptomatic individuals who may be appropriate for to-be-developed treatments that may forestall onset of symptoms or slow disease p...
Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine - August 14, 2018 Category: Nuclear Medicine Authors: Baijayanta Maiti, Joel S. Perlmutter Source Type: research

Nuclear Medicine Imaging of Prostate Cancer in the Elderly
Due to the increasing life expectancy, the diagnosis of malignancy and treatment of elderly patients is becoming more common. Prostate cancer is particularly frequent in this setting. Many different approaches are now available, but some of them imply significant risks or collateral effects. In those patients an accurate evaluation of risk-to-benefit ratio is needed, and functional imaging such as PET/CT is important for the clinician to make the appropriate choice. PET/CT in prostate cancer is a well-tolerated procedure that can be used to accurately assess the tumor extent during the entire clinical history of the diseas...
Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine - August 8, 2018 Category: Nuclear Medicine Authors: Paolo Castellucci, Cristina Nanni, Valentina Ambrosini Source Type: research

Applications of PET Imaging in the Evaluation of Musculoskeletal Diseases Among the Geriatric Population
Medical imaging plays a particularly important role in the care of elderly patients, in whom complex symptomatology and a high prevalence of musculoskeletal diseases necessitate sensitive imaging modalities. MRI is the most commonly used imaging modality in the evaluation of various musculoskeletal disorders. The integration of positron emission technique and computed tomography as well as magnetic resonance imaging allows for generating complimentary data for accurate and quantitative diagnosis. (Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine)
Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine - August 6, 2018 Category: Nuclear Medicine Authors: Abdullah Al-Zaghal, William Raynor, Mohsen Khosravi, Ali Guermazi, Thomas J. Werner, Abass Alavi Source Type: research

Letter From the Editors —September 2019 Issue
The radionuclide bone scan was one of the earliest studies introduced into clinical nuclear medicine practice in the late 1960s and early 1970s. At that time, studies using strontium-85 (Sr-85) quickly demonstrated its superiority over planar radiographs in detecting metastatic lesions. (Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine)
Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine - July 25, 2018 Category: Nuclear Medicine Authors: Leonard M. Freeman, M. Donald Blaufox Source Type: research

Letter from the Guest Editors
Radionuclide bone SPECT/CT is reported to be useful in evaluating benign orthopedic conditions, and it often provides valuable information such as accurate localization and characterization of bone abnormalities. It is always challenging to localize the pain generators in patients with recurrent pain after orthopedic surgery. Bone SPECT/CT offers a new approach in combining functional and structural information in patients presenting with pain after orthopedics procedures. In this volume, “Post-Operative SPECT/CT in Orthopedics: Pearls, Patterns& Pitfalls ” we will cover some important and interesting topics in evaluat...
Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine - July 5, 2018 Category: Nuclear Medicine Authors: Frederic Paycha, Gopinath Gnanasegaran, Tim Van den Wyngaert Source Type: research

Bone SPECT/CT in Postoperative Spine
Back pain is a common problem and the diagnosis and treatment depend on the clinical presentation, yet overlap between pain syndromes is common. Imaging of patients with chronic back pain in both pre- and postoperative scenarios include radiological, radionuclide, and hybrid techniques. In general, these techniques have their own advantages and limitations. The aim of surgery is to eliminate pathologic segmental motion and accompanying symptoms, especially pain. However, surgical procedures are not without complications and localizing the cause of the pain is often challenging. (Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine)
Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine - July 3, 2018 Category: Nuclear Medicine Authors: Gopinath Gnanasegaran, Fr édéric Paycha, Klaus Strobel, Wouter van der Bruggen, Willm Uwe Kampen, Torsten Kuwert, Tim Van den Wyngaert Source Type: research

SPECT/CT in the Postoperative Painful Knee
This review summarizes the role of SPECT/CT in patients with a painful postoperative knee and describes typical diagnostic criteria in these patients. Pain after knee surgery is common and is influenced by the underlying pathology, the type of surgery, and the patient. Knee joint-preserving surgery includes osteotomy, ligament reconstruction, meniscus surgery, and cartilage repair procedures, often used in combination. Knee arthroplasty procedures consist of unicondylar, patellofemoral, and primary or revision total knee prosthesis. (Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine)
Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine - June 21, 2018 Category: Nuclear Medicine Authors: Wouter van der Bruggen, Michael T. Hirschmann, Klaus Strobel, Willm Uwe Kampen, Torsten Kuwert, Gopinath Gnanasegaran, Tim Van den Wyngaert, Fr édéric Paycha Source Type: research

SPECT/CT in Postoperative Hand and Wrist Pain
In this review we summarize the current evidence and experience regarding the performance of SPECT/CT in the evaluation of patients with postoperative painful wrist or hand. There is a wide range of operative wrist and hand interventions due to congenital, traumatic, degenerative, or inflammatory diseases. A significant number of patients suffer from pain after operative procedures. Several imaging modalities have been used to evaluate the reason for painful postoperative wrists like standard conventional x-rays, ultrasound, CT, MRI, or bone scintigraphy. (Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine)
Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine - June 19, 2018 Category: Nuclear Medicine Authors: Klaus Strobel, Wouter van der Bruggen, Urs Hug, Gopinath Gnanasegaran, Willm Uwe Kampen, Torsten Kuwert, Fr édéric Paycha, Tim van den Wyngaert Source Type: research

SPECT/CT in Postoperative Painful Hip Arthroplasty
Consecutive milestones in hip arthroplasty design and surgical technique have contributed to the successful and cost-effective intervention this procedure has become today in maintaining mobility and quality of life in patients with osteoarthritis, fracture, or other hip conditions. With the increasing prevalence of hip joint replacements, the need for improved diagnostic imaging tools to guide revision surgery has risen in parallel. Over the last few years, promising data have emerged on the potential role of bone SPECT/CT imaging in the assessment of patients with recurrent pain after arthroplasty. (Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine)
Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine - June 19, 2018 Category: Nuclear Medicine Authors: Tim Van den Wyngaert, Fr édéric Paycha, Klaus Strobel, Willm Uwe Kampen, Torsten Kuwert, Wouter van der Bruggen, Gopinath Gnanasegaran Source Type: research

Guest Editorial
The series of articles in the current issue of Seminars in Nuclear Medicine —by some of the leading authorities in the world in their respective fields—provide excellent technical summaries of important, widely applicable technical advances in radionuclide-based molecular imaging. The technologies presented—hybrid PET/MRI, whole-body PET scanners, quantitative SPECT, single-particle digital autoradiography, and Cerenkov luminescence imaging (CLI)—not only are highly innovative but also may contribute significantly to the ongoing emergence of personalized medicine in general and personalized radionuclide therapy in ...
Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine - May 29, 2018 Category: Nuclear Medicine Authors: Pat Zanzonico Source Type: research

PET/MRI in Infection and Inflammation
Hybrid positron emission tomography/magnetic resonance imaging (PET/MR) systems are now more and more available for clinical use. PET/MR combines the unique features of MR including excellent soft tissue contrast, diffusion-weighted imaging, dynamic contrast-enhanced imaging, fMRI and other specialized sequences as well as MR spectroscopy with the quantitative physiologic information that is provided by PET. Most of the evidence of the potential clinical utility of PET/MRI is available for neuroimaging. (Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine)
Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine - May 1, 2018 Category: Nuclear Medicine Authors: Martina Sollini, Raffaella Berchiolli, Margarita Kirienko, Alexia Rossi, A.W.J.M. Glaudemans, Riemer Slart, Paola Anna Erba Source Type: research

SPECT/CT in Postoperative Foot and Ankle Pain
Postoperative pain is a clinically relevant issue in orthopedic patients, affecting more than 40% 1 year after foot and ankle surgery. Because of the very complex anatomy with many different joints and several motion axes, clinical examination and conventional imaging are sometimes not sufficient to identify a local pain generator. Local uptake of bone-seeking radiopharmaceuticals is known to correlate accurately with sites of pain generating foci and, thus, bone scintigraphy has been an established method to evaluate these respective patients for many years. (Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine)
Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine - April 18, 2018 Category: Nuclear Medicine Authors: Willm Uwe Kampen, Florian Westphal, Tim Van den Wyngaert, Klaus Strobel, Torsten Kuwert, Wouter Van der Bruggen, Gopinath Gnanasegaran, Jan-Hauke Jens, Fr édéric Paycha Source Type: research

Editorial: Innovations in Nuclear Medicine Instrumentation
Many resources in our society depend upon two basic properties: some type of fuel to provide energy and some type of vehicle to utilize it. Airlines depend on improvements in the efficiency of their planes to perform better and on improvements in fuel to supply that efficiency. Railroads require improvements in fuel and in locomotives to deliver their products economically. This is true in medicine as well, and especially true in Nuclear Medicine. We depend upon radiopharmaceutical development (fuel) to give us the potential to conduct imaging and evaluate many disease processes that can inflict human beings. (Source: Semi...
Source: Seminars in Nuclear Medicine - April 12, 2018 Category: Nuclear Medicine Authors: Leonard M. Freeman, M. Donald Blaufox Source Type: research