Tracers in vascular inflammation: Dunphy and colleagues review the role of radionuclide techniques in identifying vulnerable plaque and preview an article on the pathophysiology of atherosclerosis in this issue of JNM.
Page 1753
SPECT/CT in lymphatic mapping: van der Ploeg and colleagues assess the additional anatomic value of CT combined with SPECT in localizing sentinel nodes in patients with inconclusive findings in breast cancer or melanoma.
Page 1756
Optimal SUV for PET N-staging: Hellwig and colleagues determine a recommended threshold for standardized uptake value measurements in staging mediastinal lymph nodes in lung cancer and compare results from its use with those using visual interpretation.
Page 1761
Zevalin and Bexxar compared: Jacene and colleagues report on clinical experience with the respective weight-based and patient-specific dosing regimens of 90Y-ibritumomab tiuxetan and 131I-tositumomab in refractory non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
Page 1767
β-receptor density and sympathetic function: Tsukamoto and colleagues use 11C-CGP PET to measure myocardial β-adrenergic receptor density in patients with nonischemic cardiomyopathy and compare the results with standard parameters of heart failure, including presynaptic function assessed by 123I-MIBG imaging.
Page 1777
3D cardiac blood flow PET: Schepis and colleagues compare 2D and 3D dynamic 13N-ammonia PET for absolute quantification of myocardial blood flow.
Page 1783
PET/CT in cervical dystonia: Sung and colleagues assess the utility of 18F-FDG PET/CT as an alternative to needle electromyography mapping in identifying affected muscles in patients with idiopathic cervical dystonia before botulinum toxin injection therapy.
Page 1790
Synthetic SPECT lesion: Abbott and colleagues describe development of and initial studies with a reusable synthetic lesion for in vivo SPECT characterization of lesion detectability, an approach that can serve as a bridge between phantom studies and small animal imaging.
Page 1796
Inflammation and atherosclerosis: Spagnoli and colleagues provide an educational overview of the natural history of atherosclerotic plaques and the molecular pathophysiology of atherosclerosis, with an emphasis on the need for “total patient” perspectives in this chronic inflammatory disorder.
Page 1800
Imaging protein receptors in atheroma: Hartung and colleagues investigate the feasibility of noninvasive radionuclide imaging of inflammation by detection of high concentrations of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 receptors in inflammatory cells in experimentally induced atherosclerosis.
Page 1816
Monitoring minocycline therapy in stroke: Tang and colleagues explore the utility of 99mTc-annexin V, an in vivo marker of apoptosis, with SPECT to monitor the antiapoptotic effects of minocycline therapy in induced ischemia in a mouse model.
Page 1822
nAChRs after smoking: Mamede and colleagues use 123I-5IA SPECT to explore changes in nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in brains of smokers at 3 time periods after smoking cessation and identify a “breaking point” in the nicotine withdrawal period.
Page 1829
Liver tissue after RFA: Vogt and colleagues compare MRI, CT, ultrasound, and PET in the assessment of typical lesions after radiofrequency ablation in nontumorous swine liver tissue, to identify an optimal imaging approach for residual tumor.
Page 1836
DNA/carrier nanoparticles and streptavidin: Nakamura and colleagues evaluate antisense DNA/streptavidin/carrier nanoparticles for accumulation in cell culture and in xenografted mice to improve cell membrane transport in antisense targeting of tumor cells.
Page 1845
Novel PET ligand for PBR: Zhang and colleagues detail the synthesis and evaluation of a new 11C-labeled PET ligand for imaging peripheral benzodiazepine receptors in the primate and rodent brain.
Page 1853
Dual-function PET and optical probe: Cai and colleagues describe the development of a PET/near-infrared fluorescence probe that can facilitate accurate in vivo assessment of the pharmacokinetics and tumor-targeting efficacy of quantum dots.
Page 1862
90Y-Ibritumomab tiuxetan dosimetry: Cremonesi and colleagues report on studies designed to identify reliable and feasible dosimetric methods for high-dose 90Y-ibritumomab tiuxetan therapy and autologous stem cell transplantation, as well as safety and optimal timing of stem cell reinfusion.
Page 1871
Estimating patient active marrow mass: Pichardo and colleagues describe a simplified CT- or radiography-based method for estimating skeletal spongiosa volume and active marrow mass in the adult male and adult female.
Page 1880
Pulmonary 18F-FDG input function: Schroeder and colleagues present and validate a method to accurately derive an input function from a blood-pool region of interest defined in dynamic PET images for compartmental modeling of 18F-FDG kinetics in the lung.
Page 1889
Radiolabeled egg stability: Knight and colleagues compare the stability of 99mTc-sulfur colloid−labeled liquid egg white with that of similarly labeled fresh whole eggs and evaluate egg cooking methods for gastric-emptying scintigraphy.
Page 1897
NOPR design and analysis: Hillner and colleagues review the data collection and analysis strategies of the National Oncologic PET Registry, which was initiated in response to requirements for collection of clinical and demographic data to extend coverage of PET.
Page 1901
ON THE COVER
In a woman with right breast cancer, planar lymphoscintigraphy (top left) depicts one internal mammary chain sentinel node and a second-echelon node. Axial fused SPECT/CT (top right) and a 3-dimensional SPECT/CT maximum-intensity projection of the thorax (bottom left) enable tracing of the sentinel node, displayed using a color wash, underneath the rib at the second intercostal space close to the right sternal border. In another woman, with left breast cancer (bottom right), axial SPECT/CT shows an interpectoral sentinel node.
See page 1758.