• Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.256-258
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• 2008

Osteopoikilosis is a rare, benign hereditary disease, which presents multiple osteosclerotic, and small round nodules in the bone. It is usually detected incidentally by radiological examination. A radionuclide bone scintigraphy is essential in distinguishing osteopoikilosis from osteoblastic metastases, because scintigraphic findings are usually normal in patients with osteopoikilosis. However, there have been no reports about F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET findings in osteopoikilosis. Herein, we wish to report a case of osteopoikilosis with breast cancer, which could not be seen in either bone scintigraphy or F-18 FDG PET/CT.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.68-74
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• 2014

Recent research on mild cognitive impairment (MCI) has shown that cognitive and memory decline in this disease is accompanied by disruptive changes in the brain functional network. However, there have been no graph-theoretical studies using $^{11}C$-PIB PET data of the Alzheimer's Disease or mild cognitive impairment. In this study, we acquired $^{18}F$-FDG PET and $^{11}C$-PIB PET images of twenty-four normal aging control participants and thirty individuals with MCI from ADNI (Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative) database. Brain networks were constructed by thresholding binary correlation matrices using graph theoretical approaches. Both normal control and MCI group showed small-world property in $^{11}C$-PIB PET images as well as $^{18}F$-FDG PET images. $^{11}C$-PIB PET images showed significant difference between NC (normal control) and MCI over large range of sparsity values. This result will enable us to further analyze the brain using established graph-theoretical approaches for $^{11}C$-PIB PET images.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.3-8
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• 2010

Purpose: $^{11}C$-Acetate PET/CT is useful in detecting lesions that are related to livers in the human body and leads to a sensitivity of 87.3%. On the other hand, $^{18}F$-FDG PET/CT has a sensitivity of 47.3% and it has been reported that if both $^{18}F$-FDG and $^{11}C$-Acetate PET/CT are carried out together, their cumulative sensitivity is around 100%. However, the normal intake of the pancreas and the spleen in $^{11}C$-Acetate PET/CT can influence the $^{18}F$-FDG PET/CT leading to an inaccurate diagnosis. This research was aimed at the verification of the usefulness of how much influence these two radioactive medical supplies can cause on the medical images through comparative analysis between the one-day and two-day protocol. Materials and Methods: This research was carried out based on 46 patients who were diagnosed with liver cancer and have gone through the PET/CT (35 male, 11 female participants, average age: $54{\pm}10.6$ years, age range: 29-69 years). The equipment used for this test was the Biograph TruePoint40 PET/CT (Siemens Medical Systems, USA) and 21 participants who went through the one-day protocol test were first given the $^{11}C$-Acetate PET/CT and the $^{18}F$-FDG PET/CT, the latter exactly after one hour. The other 25 participants who went through the two-day protocol test were given the $^{11}C$-Acetate PET/CT on the first day and the $^{18}F$-FDG PET/CT on the next day. These two groups were then graded comparatively by assigning identical areas of interest of the pancreas and the spleen in the $^{18}F$-FDG images and by measuring the Standard Uptake Value (SUV). SPSS Ver.17 (SPSS Inc., USA) was used for statistical analysis, where statistical significance was found through the unpaired t-test. Results: After analyzing the participants' medical images from each of the two different protocol types, the average${\pm}$standard deviation of the SUV of the pancreas carried out under the two-day protocol were as follows: head $1.62{\pm}0.32$ g/mL, body $1.57{\pm}0.37$ g/mL, tail $1.49{\pm}0.33$ g/mL and the spleen $1.53{\pm}0.28$ g/mL. Whereas, the results for participants carried out under the one-day protocol were as follows: head $1.65{\pm}0.35$ g/mL, body $1.58{\pm}0.27$ g/mL, tail $1.49{\pm}0.28$ g/mL and the spleen $1.66{\pm}0.29$ g/mL. Conclusion: It was found that no statistical significant difference existed between the one-day and two-day protocol SUV in the pancreas and the spleen (p<0.05), and nothing which could be misconceived as false positive were found from the PET/CT medical image analysis. From this research, it was also found that no overestimation of the SUV occurred from the influence of $^{11}C$-Acetate on the $^{18}F$-FDG medical images where those two tests were carried out for one day. This result was supported by the statistical significance of the SUV of measurement. If $^{11}C$-Acetate becomes commercialized in the future, the diagnostic ability of liver diseases can be improved by $^{18}F$-FDG and one-day protocol. It is from this result where tests can be accomplished in one day without the interference phenomenon of the two radioactive medical supplies and furthermore, could reduce the waiting time improving customer satisfaction.

• Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.257-262
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• 2006

Purpose: The standard protocol using large volume of oral contrast media may cause gastrointestinal discomfort and contrast-related artifacts in PET/CT. The aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of low dose oral contrast in $^{18}F-FDG$ PET/CT. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the whole-body PET/CT images in a total of 435 patients. About 200 ml of oval contrast agent (barium sulfate) was administered immediately before injection of $^{18}F-FDG$. The FDG uptake of intestines was analyzed by visual and semi- quantitative method on transaxial, coronal and saggital planes. Results: Seventy (16%, 113 sites) of 435 images showed high FDG uptake (peak SUV > 4); 50 (74%, 84 sites) with diffuse and 20 (15%, 29 sites) with focal uptake. The most commonly delivered site of oral contrast media was small bowel (n=27, 39%). On PET/CT images, FDG uptake coexisted with oral contrast media in 26 patients (54%, 38 sites) with diffuse pattern and 9 (45%, 9 sites) with focal pattern, and by sites, those were 38 (45%) and 9 (31%), respectively. In small bowel regions, the proportion of coexistence reached as high as 61% (29/47 sites). A visual analysis of available non-attenuation corrected PET images of 27 matched regions revealed no contrast-related artifact. Conclusion: We concluded that the application of low dose contrast media could be helpful in the evaluation of abdominal uptake in the FDG PET/CT image.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.173-181
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• 2012

Purpose: To evaluate the prognostic value of preoperative neck lymph node (LN) assessment with $^{18}F$-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography ($^{18}F$-FDG PET), computed tomography (CT), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) patients with pathologically positive LN. Materials and Methods: In total, 47 OSCC patients with pathologically positive LN were retrospectively reviewed with preoperative $^{18}F$-FDG PET and CT/MRI. All patients underwent surgical resection, neck dissection and postoperative adjuvant radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy between March 2002 and October 2010. Histologic correlation was performed for findings of $^{18}F$-FDG PET and CT/MRI. Results: Thirty-six (76.6%) of 47 cases were correctly diagnosed with neck LN metastasis by $^{18}F$-FDG PET and 32 (68.1%) of 47 cases were correctly diagnosed by CT/MRI. Follow-up ranged from 20 to 114 months (median, 56 months). Clinically negative nodal status evaluated by $^{18}F$-FDG PET or CT/MRI revealed a trend toward better clinical outcomes in terms of overall survival, disease-free survival, local recurrence-free survival, regional nodal recurrence-free survival, and distant metastasis-free survival rates even though the trends were not statistically significant. However, there was no impact of neck node standardized uptake value ($SUV_{max}$) on clinical outcomes. Notably, $SUV_{max}$ showed significant correlation with tumor size in LN (p < 0.01, $R^2$ = 0.62). PET and CT/MRI status of LN also had significant correlation with the size of intranodal tumor deposit (p < 0.05, $R^2$ = 0.37 and p < 0.01, $R^2$ = 0.48, respectively). Conclusion: $^{18}F$-FDG PET and CT/MRI at the neck LNs might improve risk stratification in OSCC patients with pathologically positive neck LN in this study, even without significant prognostic value of $SUV_{max}$.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.313-318
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• 2013

Positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) imaging with fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) have been used as a powerful fusion modality in nuclear medicine not only for detecting cancer but also for staging and therapy monitoring. Nevertheless, there are various causes of FDG uptake in normal and/or benign tissues. The purpose of present study was to investigate whether additional delayed imaging can improve the diagnosis to differentiate the rates of FDG uptake at axillary lymph nodes (ALN) between malignant and benign in breast cancer patients. 180 PET/CT images were obtained for 27 patients with ALN uptake. The patients who had radiotherapy and chemotherapy were excluded from the study. $^{18}F$-FDG PET/CT scan at 50 min (early phase) and 90 min (delayed phase) after $^{18}F$-FDG injection were included in this retrospective study. The staging of cancers was confirmed by final clinical according to radiologic follow-up and pathologic findings. The standardized uptake value (SUV) of ALN was measured at the Syngo Acquisition Workplace by Siemens. The 27 patients included 18 malignant and 9 ALN benign groups and the 18 malignant groups were classified into the 3 groups according to number of metastatic ALN in each patient. ALNs were categorized less than or equal 3 as N1, between 4 to 9 as N2 and more than 10 as N3 group. Results are expressed as the mean${\pm}$standard deviation (S.D.) and statistically analyzed by SPSS. As a result, Retention index (RI-SUV max) in metastasis was significantly higher than that in non-metastasis about 5 fold increased. On the other hand, RI-SUV max in N group tended to decrease gradually from N1 to N3. However, we could not prove significance statistically in malignant group with ANOVA. As a consequence, RI-SUV max was good indicator for differentiating ALN positive group from node negative group in breast cancer patients. These results show that dual-time-point scan appears to be useful in distinguishing malignant from benign.

• Brain Tumor Research and Treatment
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.47-53
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• 2018

Brain tumors represent a diverse spectrum of histology, biology, prognosis, and treatment options. Although MRI remains the gold standard for morphological tumor characterization, positron emission tomography (PET) can play a critical role in evaluating disease status. This article focuses on the use of PET with radiolabeled glucose and amino acid analogs to aid in the diagnosis of tumors and differentiate between recurrent tumors and radiation necrosis. The most widely used tracer is $^{18}F$-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG). Although the intensity of FDG uptake is clearly associated with tumor grade, the exact role of FDG PET imaging remains debatable. Additionally, high uptake of FDG in normal grey matter limits its use in some low-grade tumors that may not be visualized. Because of their potential to overcome the limitation of FDG PET of brain tumors, $^{11}C$-methionine and $^{18}F$-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (FDOPA) have been proposed. Low accumulation of amino acid tracers in normal brains allows the detection of low-grade gliomas and facilitates more precise tumor delineation. These amino acid tracers have higher sensitivity and specificity for detecting brain tumors and differentiating recurrent tumors from post-therapeutic changes. FDG and amino acid tracers may be complementary, and both may be required for assessment of an individual patient. Additional tracers for brain tumor imaging are currently under development. Combinations of different tracers might provide more in-depth information about tumor characteristics, and current limitations may thus be overcome in the near future. PET with various tracers including FDG, $^{11}C$-methionine, and FDOPA has improved the management of patients with brain tumors. To evaluate the exact value of PET, however, additional prospective large sample studies are needed.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.8
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• pp.3525-3531
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• 2014

Objective: Fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (18F-FDG-PET) is a new technique for identifying different malignant tumors using different uptake values between tumor cells and normal tissues. Here we assessed the diagnostic accuracy of 18F-FDG-PET in patients with testicular cancer by pooling data of existing trials in a meta-analysis. Methods: PubMed/MEDLINE, Embase and Cochrane Central Trials databases were searched and studies published in English relating to the diagnostic value of FDG-PET for testicular cancer were collected. The summary receiver operating characteristic (SROC) curve was used to examine the FDG-PET accuracy. Results: A total of 16 studies which included 957 examinations in 807 patients (median age, 31.1 years) were analyzed. A meta-analysis was performed to combine the sensitivity and specificity and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs), from diagnostic odds ratio (DOR), positive likelihood ratios (PLR), negative likelihood ratio (NLR). SROC were derived to demonstrate the diagnostic accuracy of FDG-PET for testicular cancer. The pooled sensitivity and specificity were 0.75 (95% confidence interval (CI), 0.70-0.80) and 0.87 (95% CI, 0.84-0.89), respectively. The pooled DOR was 35.6 (95% CI, 12.9-98.3). The area under the curve (AUC) was 0.88. The pooled PLR and pooled NLR were 7.80 (95% CI, 3.73-16.3) and 0.31 (95% CI, 0.23-0.43), respectively. Conclusion: In patients with testicular cancer, 18F-FDG-PET demonstrated a high SROC area, and could be a potentially useful tool if combined with other imaging methods such as MRI and CT. Nevertheless, the literature focusing on the use of 18F-FDG-PET in this setting still remains limited.

• Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.565-571
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• 2009

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical value of rectal gas distension F-18 FDG PET/CT imaging for the differentiation of the rectal focal uptake lesions. Materials and Methods: Twenty four patients (M:F=11:13, Age $62.8{\pm}12.4$ years) underwent rectal gas distension F-18 FDG PET/CT, prospectively: initial image at 50-60 min after the intravenous injection of F-18 FDG and rectal distension image after the infusion of air through the anus. Focally increased uptake lesions on initial images but disappeared on rectal distension images defined a physiological uptake. For the differential evaluation of persistent focal uptake lesions on rectal distension images, colonoscopy and histopathologic examination were performed. Results: Among the 24 patients, 27 lesions of focal rectal uptake were detected on initial images of F-18 FDG PET/CT. Of these, 7 lesions were able to judge with physiological uptake because the focal increased uptake disappeared from rectal distension image. Remaining 3 lesions were non-rectal lesions (2 lesions: rectovesical space, 1 lesion: uterine myoma). Among 17 lesions which was showed persistent increased uptake in rectal distension image, 15 lesions were confirmed as the malignant tumor (SUVmax=$15.9{\pm}6.8$) and 2 lesions were confirmed as the benign lesions including adenoma and inflammatory disease. Conclusion: The rectal distension F-18 FDG PET/CT imaging could be an important noninvasive method for the differentiation of malignant and benign focal rectal uptake lesions including physiologic uptake.

• Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.246-248
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• 2008

A hepatic angiomyolipoma is a rare benign tumor mainly composed of blood vessels, smooth muscle cells and fat cells in varying proportion. Hepatic angiomyolipoma is often misdiagnosed as a hepatocellular carcinoma in preoperative imaging work-up. To date, there has been little published data describing PET findings of hepatic angiomyolipoma. We report one case of hepatic angiomyolipoma that showed a high acetate and relatively low FDG uptake on PET images.