[en] Risk stratification and assessment of prognosis in patients with known or suspected CAD is of crucial important for the practice of contemporary medicine. Noninvasive testing such as myocardial perfusion scintigraphy, coronary artery calcium scoring or CT coronary angiography is increasingly being used to determine the need for aggressive medical therapy and to select patients for catheterization. The integrated anatomic and functional information may provide more additional information for the cardiologist or other clinician by the improved risk stratification and diagnostic accuracy of integrated techniques. The development of SPECT/CT or PET/CT hybrid systems is therefore of important value for the nuclear cardiology

[en] A 61 year-old woman underwent perfusion and inhalation lung scan for the evaluation of pulmonary thromboembolism. Tc-99m MAA perfusion lung scan showed multiple round hot spots in both lung fields. Tc-99m DTPA aerosol inhalation lung scan and chest radiography taken at the same time showed normal findings. A repeated perfusion lung scan taken 24 hours later demonstrated no abnormalities. Hot spots on perfusion lung scan can be caused by microsphere clumping due to faulty injection technique by radioactive embolization from upper extremity thrombophlebitis after injection. Focal hot spots can signify zones of atelectasis, where the hot spots probably represent a failure of hypoxic vasoconstriction. Artifactual hot spots due to microsphere clumping usually appear to be round and in peripheral location, and the lesions due to a loss of hypoxic vasoconstriction usually appear to be hot uptakes having linear borders. Although these artifactual hot spots have been well-known, we rarely encounter them. This report presents a case with artifactual hot spots due to microsphere clumping on Tc-99m MAA perfusion lung scan

[en] Since the prognosis of measles encephalitis is poor, early diagnosis and proper management are very important to improve clinical outcomes. We compared Tc-99m ECD brain SPECT (SPECT) with MR imaging (MRI) for the detection of acute measles encephalitis. Eleven patients (M : F=4 : 7, age range 18 months-14 yrs) with acute measles encephalitis were enrolled in this studies. All of them underwent both MRI and SPECT. The results of SPECT were scored from 0 (normal) to 3 (most severe defect) according to perfusion state. We compared two image modalities for the detection of brain abnormality in acute measles encephalitis. Seven of 11 patients (63.6%) revealed high signal intensity in the white matter on T2WI of MRI, on the other hand all patients (100%) showed hypoperfusion on SPECT. Severe perfusion deficits above score 2 were located with decreasing frequencies in the frontal lobe (81.8%), temporal lobe (72.7%), occipital lobe (27.3%), basal ganglia (27.3%), and parietal lobe (9.1%). We conclude that SPECT is more useful than MRI for the detection of brain involvement in patients with acute measles encephalitis

[en] It is well known that the image by pinhole collimator (PH) has more good resolution than that by high resolution parallel-hole collimator (HRPH). We performed this study to compare PH and HRPH for the detection of metastatic cervical lymphadenopathy (MCL) from remnant thyroid tissue (RT). One hundred forty three studies in 71 patients (M :F=12: 59, age 43.3±13.9 yrs) were included in our investigation. In 111 of 143 studies which were received 1110 MBq of I-131, HRPH and PH were performed 3 days after intake. PH were obtained with 6 mm aperture in size and for 10 minutes. Markers were placed to the submental and sternal notch region. We compared two image modality for the detection of MCL and RT in cervcal region. All of the patients were revealed well differentiated thyroid cancer (papillary: follicular=68: 3). Sixty five of 111 studies (58.6%) showed concordant results and 46 of 111 (41.4%) showed discordant results. In the group of discordant result, PH study was more useful for the detection of lesions with RT and MCL 25/46 (54.3%) and 29/46 (63%), respectively. In well differentiated thyroid cancer after surgery, we conclude that PH has more useful value in monitoring of therapeutic response in RT, and provides additive information for the necessity of high dose radioactive iodine therapy in patient with MCL

[en] A 67-year-old woman who had undergone anterior resection for a moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma of the rectum and wedge resection for liver metastasis presented with hematogenous lung metastasis. Metastatic pulmonary nodules in both lung fields were shown on plain chest radiograph and CT. Ga-67 SPECT images revealed accumulation of radioactivity corresponding to the pulmonary nodules. The authors present an unusual case of accumulation of Ga-67 in metastatic pulmonary nodules in patient with a moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma of the rectum

[en] SAPHO syndrome is well known to various disease entities including synovitis, acne, pustulosis, hyperostosis and polyarthritis. The purpose of this study is to evaluate sicntigraphic findings and to compare with radiologic findings in SAPHO syndrome. Five patients (M:F=5:0, Age 22.8±4.78 yrs) with SAPHO syndrome were enrolled in our study. All patients underwent whole-body bone scintigraphy with intravenous administration of 740 MBq of Tc-99m MDP. Among them, two patients were additionally perfomed SPECT of the spine to evaluate the location and extent of spinal lesion. All patients were demonstrated abnormal increased uptakes in sternoclavicular joint (SC), sacroiliac joint (SI), and small joints of both hands. Among them, three patients were bilateral involvement (3/5) and two were unilateral (2/5) in SC. Involvement of SI showed bilateral in four patients (4/5) and unilateral in one (1/5). SPECT images demonstrate that the lesion sites of the lumbar spine are more likely facet joints than vertebral bodies or pedicles. As SAPHO syndrome is the disease entity involved polyarticular joints with various dermatologic manifestations, the bone scintigraphy may be a very useful method to evaluate the location and extent of joint involvement, and to avoid inadequate surgical management or ineffective antibiotic treatment

[en] The femoral vessels are sometimes visualized on bone scintigraphy. This is almost always caused by calcification of the femoral artery associated with atherosclerotic changes of the arterial wall. Vascular calcification is frequently seen in the elderly and in diabetics. A 78 year old woman was admitted for non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus. In this patient with diabetes mellitus, tibial arteries as well as femoral arteries were visualized onTc-99m MDP bone scintigraphy in contrast with visualization of femoral artery alone observed in the elderly

[en] A 47-year-old man with end-stage renal disease due to diabetic nephropathy underwent a peritoneal scintigraphy to evaluate the cause of recently developed scrotal swelling. Two liters of dialystate mixed with 111 MBq of Tc-99m sulfur colloid were adminstered into the peritoneal cavity via the dialysis catheter. Various anterior images of the abdomen and pelvis were obtained at 15 min, 2 hr and 4 hr after the tracer instillation. At 15 min, anterior images of the abdomen and pelvis demonstrated linear tracts of activity through both inguinal canals, which were more prominent in the right side (A). Images at 2 hr revealed a passage of the radioactive fluid into the right hemiscrotum. At the same time, there was a considerable accumulation of activity in the right inguinal canal (B). In the delayed image, there was a progressive accumulation of activity in the inguinal canals and a prominent passage of the tracer into the scrotum (C). Both abdominal and inguinal hernias are commonly associated with continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD). Overall incidence of CAPD-induced hernia ranges from 2.7% to 25%. Inguinal hernias were frequently manifested as scrotal swelling. Leakages f dialysate fluid into the scrotum has been noted in CAPD patients with scrotal swelling, with or without clincal findings of inguinal hernia. In the present case, the right side had leakage from a clinical inguinal hernia and the left side, leakage, from a subclinial inguinal hernia. A subclinical inguinal hernia was easily demonstrable with peritoneal scintigraphy. Peritoneal scintigraphy is extremely helpful in the evaluation of scrotal swelling in a patient on CAPD

[en] A 43-year-old woman with diabetic nephropathy underwent a Tc-99m MAG3 renal scintigraphy for the evaluation of renal function. Posterior images at 60 minutes demonstrated a migration of radiotracer activity beyond the lower pole of the left kidney, which might be incorrectly interpreted as urine leaks. However, the increased activities were moving along the bowel lumens over time. Another ring-like radioactivity was also seen in the suprasplenic region, and increased with time. These radioactivities were in the gastric fundus and gastrointestinal tract and caused by free Tc-99m pertechnetate

[en] A 38-year-old woman with end stage renal disease received a living related donor-renal transplant to the right iliac fossa. She developed anuria a week later. Tc-99m MAG₃ renal scintigraphy demonstrated no perfusion, uptake, or excretion of the radioactive tracer from the renal transplant. The expected area of the renal allograft appeared as a photopenic area with increased rim activity. The gallbladder and bowel activities were observed on delayed images at 24 hours. There was no blood flow within the renal artery on renal doppler examination. This case shows total absence of perfusion and function in the infarcted renal transplant with extrarenal excretion of Tc-99m MAG₃ caused by acute renal artery thrombosis