@article {Mariani776, author = {Giuliano Mariani and Ernest K.J. Pauwels and Abedallatif AlSharif and Santino Marchi and Giuseppe Boni and Marco Barreca and Massimo Bellini and Mariano Grosso and Nicola de Bortoli and Gloria Mumolo and Francesco Costa and Domenico Rubello and H. William Strauss}, title = {Radionuclide Evaluation of the Lower Gastrointestinal Tract}, volume = {49}, number = {5}, pages = {776--787}, year = {2008}, doi = {10.2967/jnumed.107.040113}, publisher = {Society of Nuclear Medicine}, abstract = {This review outlines the technical aspects and diagnostic performance parameters of nuclear medicine procedures used on patients with disorders of the lower gastrointestinal tract, with the exclusion of techniques using tumor-seeking radiopharmaceuticals. Chronic disorders of the lower gastrointestinal tract often reduce the quality of life because of discomfort from constipation or diarrhea. Five classes of radionuclide procedures are used to characterize these disorders: transit scintigraphy, searches for ectopic gastric mucosa in Meckel{\textquoteright}s diverticulum, scintigraphy of active inflammatory bowel disease, scintigraphic defecography, and scintigraphy to detect sites of gastrointestinal bleeding. Protocols for these procedures and their relative merit in patient management are discussed, with special emphasis on their potential for semiquantitative assessment of the pathophysiologic parameter investigated. Quantitation is particularly relevant for prognostic purposes and for monitoring the efficacy of therapy.}, issn = {0161-5505}, URL = {https://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/49/5/776}, eprint = {https://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/49/5/776.full.pdf}, journal = {Journal of Nuclear Medicine} }