[en] Mycotic aneurysms of the abdominal aorta are uncommon, but potentially lethal problems. Clinical subtleties may suggest their presence, but in the past, definitive diagnosis has been dependent on surgical exploration or autopsy findings. A case is presented in which 67-gallium citrate abdominal scanning localized the site of sepsis in an abdominal aortic aneurysm and allowed for prompt and successful surgical therapy. This noninvasive technique is recommended as a adjunct in the diagnosis of mycotic abdominal aortic aneurysms

[en] Clinical, laboratory, radiologic, and radionuclide findings of 40 patients with operatively proven intra-abdominal abscesses were evaluated to determine their degree of diagnostic accuracy. Correct preoperative diagnosis was established by clinical, laboratory, and simple radiologic technics in 24 (60%) patients, whereas more sophisticated imaging procedures were used in 16. Gallium citrate Ga 67 scan was done in nine and was positive in six, ultrasonic scan was positive in seven of 16, and computerized tomography in six of eight patients. In 12, two consecutive imaging procedures were used. Concordant results were obtained in eight, of which five were accurate and three inaccurate. Of the four remaining patients with discordant results, the second imaging procedure was incorrect in three and correct in one instance. Accordingly, sophisticated imaging procedures were done in only 40% of patients and were accurate in 75% of less of cases. Furthermore, addition of a second imaging procedure did not increase diagnostic accuracy. Therefore, these technics, while improving the previously existing diagnostic means, should be still considered less than perfect and their negative result should not exclude the need for diagnostic celiotomy when clinical findings are highly suggestive of intra-abdominal abscess

[en] Ga-67-citrate scintigraphy was used in 17 patients with carcinoma of the esophagus as part of the preoperative evaluation. Intense concentration in the primary site was associated with an extensive tumor. In all patients but one in whom resection was attempted, the tumors were found to be unresectable. Gallium scintigraphy diaphragm and in the left supraclavicular fossa. Of special interest were three patients in whom esophagoscopy and contrast radiography suggested a benign stricture. All had intense concentration of gallium at the esophagogastric junction, an indication that proved to be carcinoma

[en] Gallium 67 citrate scanning has recently been introduced in the detection and localization of malignant and inflammatory pelvic processes. A total of 26 obstetrical and gynecological patients with proven benign and noninflammatory pelvic processes were injected with gallium 67 citrate and scanned. All the patients showed normal studies. Our results indicate that benign and noninfectious pelvic conditions do not show an increased uptake of gallium 67 citrate. It is concluded that the presence of a positive scan during the postpartum or postoperative period strongly suggests the possibility of infection. Benign pelvic tumors did not show an increased accumulation of the gallium 67 citrate. As a consequence an increased uptake by a pelvic mass strongly suggests the possibility of malignancy. An important observation from a clinical point of view was the absence of gallium uptake at the site of noninfected surgical incisions in the postoperative period

[en] ⁶⁷Ga citrate scans and serum angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) levels were obtained in 54 patients with sarcoidosis and analyzed in relation to clinical manifestations. ⁶⁷Ga scans were abnormal in 97% of patients with clinically active disease (n . 30) and in 71% of patients with inactive disease (n . 24). Serum ACE levels were abnormally high (2 standard deviations above the control mean) in 73% of patients with clinically active disease and in 54% of patients with inactive disease. Serum ACE levels correlated significantly with ⁶⁷Ga uptake score (r..436; p less than .005). The frequency of abnormal ⁶⁷Ga scans and elevated serum ACE levels suggests that inflammatory activity with little or no clinical expression is common in sarcoidosis. Abnormal ⁶⁷Ga scans were highly sensitive (97%) but had poor specificity (29%) to clinical disease activity. The accuracy of negative prediction of clinical activity by normal scans (87%) was better than the accuracy of positive prediction of clinical activity by abnormal scans (63%). ⁶⁷Ga scans can be used to support the clinical indentification of inactive sacoidosis

[en] Empyema occurring days to weeks after pneumonectomy is usually diagnosed during the same hospitalization. A late-onset postpneumonectomy empyema may be very difficult to diagnose. In some cases, a new air-fluid level appearing on the chest roentgenogram provides a lead to the diagnosis or an empyema necessitatis makes the diagnosis obvious. In others, there may be no diagnostic clues. In such patients, a gallium 67 scan may detect empyema in the postpneumonectomy space

[en] The experiment was designed to investigate the variation of DAT and D2 receptor in morphine administered and 1,2,3 day abstinent rats. Morphine exposure was induced by repeated morphine (i.p.) treatment for 8 days. Conditioned place preference test was conducted to evaluate the drug seeking behaviour and morphine dependence of rats with morphine exposure. Biodistribution of the imaging agents ¹²⁵I-β-CIT and ¹²⁵I-IBZM was used to evaluate the central DAT and D2 receptor during morphine exposure and 1,2,3 day's abstinence. Results reveal the following facts. (1) The morphine abstinent rats showed diarrhea and body-shake 1 day after morphine withdrawal. (2) For morphine group, ¹²⁵I-β-CIT %ID/g in ST and NAC was higher than that of the 1,2,3 day's abstinent rats and control (P<0.05). No difference was found between 1,2,3 day's abstinent group and control group (P>0.05). (3) ¹²⁵I-IBZM %ID/g in ST, NAC and HIP in morphine rats were lower than those of the abstinent and control rats (P<0.05). The ¹²⁵I-IBZM %ID/g in ST and NAC gradually increased with the abstinent days. While in ST the %ID/g among the abstinent rats was all lower than that of the control rats, in NAC the %ID/g was still lower in 1 day's abstinent rats (P<0.05), and no difference in 2 and 3 day's abstinent rats was observed in comparison with the control (P>0.05), indicating the reduction of hyper-activated DAT and the increase of down-regulatory D2 receptor induced by morphine during morphine withdrawal. Our results confirmed that the dopamine system, especially DAT and D2 receptor in mesolimbic and meso-striatum pathway, has been implicated in morphine treatment. The rewarding properties of morphine and the somatic expression of morphine abstinence were related to changes in mesolimbic and meso-striatum dopaminergic activity. (authors)

[en] Conventional gallium scans are not useful to evaluate patients with metastatic melanoma. We evaluated a new method of tomographic gallium imaging. One hundred fourteen tomographic scans were obtained in a prospective surveillance study of 67 patients over a 3-year period. Scans were evaluated and compared to findings of independent clinical evaluations. Sensitivity of gallium identification of tumor involving peripheral lymph nodes and soft tissues, abdomen, mediastinum, and osseous sites was 68% to 100%; overall sensitivity of this technique is 82% with specificity of 99% in 570 organ system assessments. Analysis of discordant findings when a site was clinically occult but gallium-positive showed gallium uptake to be true-positive in six of seven lymphatic sites, three of three lung and mediastinal sites, six of six abdominal sites, but in no brain or bone sites. Gallium lesions identified by computed tomographic scans proved to be false-positive at one lymphatic and one bone site, and false-negative at four otherwise clinically evident lymph node and soft tissue sites, seven pulmonary sites, and four brain sites. Gallium tomographic scanning provides a composite assessment of melanoma and may eliminate the need for other studies

No abstract available

[en] In order to evaluate its usefulness in the assessment of radiation pneumotinis, gallium-67 citrate (⁶⁷Ga) imaging was performed before and after radiation therapy (RT) on 103 patients with lung cancer. In 23 patients with radiation pneumonitis detected radiographically, abnormal ⁶⁷Ga uptake in sites other than tumors was found in all post-RT ⁶⁷Ga lung images. Three patterns of uptake were found: (A) focal uptake corresponding to the RT field (n=10); (B) diffuse uptake including the RT field (n=4); and (C) diffuse uptake outside the RT field (n=9). The area of ⁶⁷Ga uptake was consistent with that of interstitial pneumonitis as revealed histopathologically in 7 cases. ⁶⁷Ga uptake in pattern (C) was an indicator of poor prognosis for the patients with radiation pneumonitis. ⁶⁷Ga uptake in the patients with reversible pneumonitis disappeared with steroid therapy. Sixteen (20%) of 80 asymptomatic patients, in whose chest radiographs there was no finding of radiation pneumonitis, showed transient ⁶⁷Ga uptake. These were considered to occur in the subclinical radiation pneumonitis. These data suggest that ⁶⁷Ga imaging is more sensitive than chest radiography in the detection of radiation pneumonitis and is useful in the assessment of the extent and clinical course of radiation pneumonitis. (author)