Evaluating the possible role of 68Ga-citrate PET/CT in the characterization of indeterminate lung lesions

We sought to determine whether PET/CT imaging with 68Ga-citrate could be of value in distinguishing benign from malignant lung pathology in a setting with a high prevalence of granulomatous diseases. METHODS : Thirty-six consecutive patients with indeterminate lung lesions prospectively underwent dual time point (60 and 120 min) 68Ga-citrate PET/CT study prior to lung biopsy. Qualitative and semi-quantitative measures of tracer uptake in the lung lesions (SUVmax) were compared to the histopathology in order to establish an imaging pattern to distinguish benign from malignant lesions. RESULTS : Fourteen patients (38.9 %) were diagnosed with a malignant lesion, 12 (33.3 %) with tuberculosis (TB), and 10 participants (27.8 %) with other benign lung lesions. At 60-min post-injection, patients who were diagnosed with a malignant lesion (n = 14) demonstrated a mean SUVmax of 3.36 ± 1.14, with a median value of 3.04 (min = 1.56, max = 4.65).Those with TB (n = 12) demonstrated a SUVmax of 3.99 ± 2.28, and a median value of 3.71 (pct25 = 2.19, pct75 = 4.95). In patients with other benign lesions (n = 10), the following values were observed: a SUVmax of 2.70 ± 1.31, a median value of 2.50 (pct25 = 1.76, pct75 = 3.59). The mean values of these three types of pathology were not statistically significant (p = 0.1919), and therefore the SUVmax could not be used to accurately distinguish between these lesions using both early and delayed imaging. CONCLUSION : This study, as the first 68Ga-citrate PET/CT in humans for the in vivo imaging of lung pathology, demonstrated its potential for the detection of both malignancy and TB. However, 68Ga-citrate seemed incapable of providing a clear distinction between malignant and benign lung lesions in a setting with a high prevalence of granulomatous diseases such as TB.http://link.springer.com/journal/12149hb201

Ranked set sampling: Its essence and some new applications

10.1007/s10651-007-0025-0Environmental and Ecological Statistics144355-36

Impact of liver tumour burden, alkaline phosphatase elevation, and target lesion size on treatment outcomes with 177Lu-Dotatate: an analysis of the NETTER-1 study

International audienc

The Labeled-Leukocyte Scan in the Study of Abdominal Abscesses

The purpose of the present paper was to review the literature over the last 30 years to assess the value of radionuclide imaging, particularly labeled leukocyte scan, as compared to other imaging modalities in the management of abdominal abscesses. A systematic review of the published studies in humans cited in PubMed written in English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish was made. Ultrasound (US) has lower sensitivity than leukocyte scan (LS), particularly in patients without localizing signs, while CT has higher sensitivity than US, but less than LS. On the other hand, CT had higher specificity than both LS and US. LS is the more sensitive method to localize abdominal abscesses and may guide dedicated US and CT investigations to improve their diagnostic potential. Further diagnostic evolution is expected from the routine use of hybrid SPECT/CT systems