Positron emission tomography in ovarian cancer: 18F-deoxy-glucose and 16α-18F-fluoro-17β-estradiol PET

The most frequently used molecular imaging technique is currently 18F-deoxy-glucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET). FDG-PET holds promise in the evaluation of recurrent or residual ovarian cancer when CA125 levels are rising and conventional imaging, such as ultrasound, CT, or MRI, is inconclusive or negative. Recently, integrated PET/CT, in which a full-ring-detector clinical PET scanner and a multidetector helical CT scanner are combined, has enabled the acquisition of both metabolic and anatomic imaging data using one device in a single diagnostic session. This can also provide precise anatomic localization of suspicious areas of increased FDG uptake and rule out false-positive PET findings. FDG-PET/CT is an accurate modality for assessing primary and recurrent ovarian cancer and may affect management. FDG-PET/CT may provide benefits for detection of recurrent of ovarian cancer and improve surgical planning. And FDG-PET has been shown to predict response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy and survival in advanced ovarian cancer. This review focuses on the role of FDG-PET and FDG-PET/CT in the management of patients with ovarian cancer. Recently, we have evaluated 16α-18F-fluoro-17β-estradiol (FES)-PET, which detects estrogen receptors. In a preliminary study we reported that FES-PET provides information useful for assessing ER status in advanced ovarian cancer. This new information may expand treatment choice for such patients

Relationship Between Impaired Microvascular Function in the Non-Infarct-Related Area and Left Ventricular Remodeling in Patients With Myocardial Infarction

Background. Myocardial flow reserve (MFR) in the non-infarct-related area (NIRA) has been reported to be impaired after the onset of myocardial infarction (MI). The aim of this study was to determine whether microvascular dysfunction in the NIRA is related to left-ventricular remodeling after MI. Methods. We prospectively studied 17 patients who suffered their first single-vessel MI, and who underwent successful revascularization. The MFR in the NIRA was assessed quantitatively using ^13N-ammonia positron emission tomography within 2 weeks after the onset. Peak creatinine kinase and the defect score on ^<99m>Tc-tetrofosmin myocardial perfusion imaging were used as an index of the severity of MI. The left-ventricular end-diastolic volume index (LVEDVI) was calculated using left ventriculography at 1 month and 6 months after the onset. Results. Patients with severely impaired MFR (< 2.09) had higher peak creatinine kinase values (6,000 ± 5,485 IU/L vs. 2,250 ± 1,950 IU/L, p = 0.0081), defect scores (16.3 ± 5.9 vs. 7.9 ± 6.5, p = 0.0404), and LVEDVI at 1 month (125.6 ± 34.4 mL/m^2 vs. 82.8 ± 17.7 mL/m^2, p = 0.0036) than those with mildly impaired MFR (≥ 2.09). Moreover, the differences of LVEDVI between the 2 groups persisted over 6 months (133.3 ± 43.6 mL/m^2 vs. 89.5 ± 17.3 mL/m^2, p = 0.0078). The MFR in the NIRA correlated inversely with the LVEDVI at 1 month and 6 months (r = -0.590, p = 0.0127 and r = -0.729, p = 0.0031, respectively). Conclusions. These data indicate that microvascular impairment in the NIRA might have contributed to left-ventricular remodeling after MI

Autistic empathy toward autistic others.

自閉スペクトラム症がある方々による、自閉スペクトラム症がある方々に対する共感. 京都大学プレスリリーズ. 2014-11-06.Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are thought to lack self-awareness and to experience difficulty empathising with others. Although these deficits have been demonstrated in previous studies, most of the target stimuli were constructed for typically developing (TD) individuals. We employed judgment tasks capable of indexing self-relevant processing in individuals with and without ASD. Fourteen Japanese males and one Japanese female with high-functioning ASD (17-41 years of age) and 13 Japanese males and two TD Japanese females ( 22-40 years of age), all of whom were matched for age and full and verbal intelligence quotient scores with the ASD participants, were enrolled in this study. The results demonstrated that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex was significantly activated in individuals with ASD in response to autistic characters and in TD individuals in response to non-autistic characters. Whereas the frontal-posterior network between the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and superior temporal gyrus participated in the processing of non-autistic characters in TD individuals, an alternative network was involved when individuals with ASD processed autistic characters. This suggests an atypical form of empathy in individuals with ASD toward others with ASD

Dual-time-point 18F-FDG PET imaging for diagnosis of disease type and disease activity in patients with idiopathic interstitial pneumonia

Purpose Individual clinical courses of idiopathic interstitial pneumonia (IIP) are variable and difficult to predict because the pathology and disease activity are contingent, and chest computed tomography (CT) provides little information about disease activity. In this study, we applied dual-time-point [18F]-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (18F-FDG) positron emission tomography (PET), commonly used for diagnosis of malignant tumors, to the differential diagnosis and prediction of disease progression in IIP patients. Methods Fifty patients with IIP, including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF, n=21), nonspecific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP, n=18), and cryptogenic organizing pneumonia (COP, n=11), underwent 18F-FDG PET examinations at two time points: Scan 1 at 60 min (early imaging) and Scan 2 at 180 min (delayed imaging) after 18F-FDG injection. The standardized uptake values (SUV) at the two points and the retention index (RI-SUV) calculated from them were evaluated and compared with chest CT findings, disease progression, and disease types. To evaluate short term disease progression, all patients were examined pulmonary function test every 3 months for 1 year after 18F-FDG PET scanning. Results The early SUV for COP (2.47±0.74) was significantly higher than that for IPF (0.99±0.29, P=0.0002) or NSIP (1.22±0.44, P=0.0025). When an early SUV cut-off value of 1.5 and greater was used to distinguish COP from IPF and NSIP, the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy were 90.9%, 94.3%, and 93.5%, respectively. The RI-SUV for IPF and NSIP lesions was significantly greater in patients with deteriorated pulmonary function after 1-year of follow-up (progressive group, 13.0±8.9%) than in cases without deterioration during the 1-year observation period (stable group, -16.8±5.9%, P<0.0001). However, the early SUV for all IIP types provided no additional information of disease progression. When an RI-SUV cut-off value of 0% and greater was used to distinguish progressive IIPs from stable IIPs, the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy were 95.5%, 100%, and 97.8%, respectively. Conclusion Early-SUV and RI-SUV obtained from dual-time point 18F-FDG PET are useful parameter for the differential diagnosis and prediction of disease progression in patients with IIP

Default mode network in young male adults with autism spectrum disorder: Relationship with autism spectrum traits

Background: Autism spectrum traits are postulated to lie on a continuum that extends between individuals with autism and individuals with typical development (TD). Social cognition properties that are deeply associated with autism spectrum traits have been linked to functional connectivity between regions within the brain\u27s default mode network (DMN). Previous studies have shown that the resting-state functional connectivities (rs-FCs) of DMN are low and show negative correlation with the level of autism spectrum traits in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, it is unclear whether individual differences of autism spectrum traits are associated with the strength of rs-FCs of DMN in participants including the general population. Methods. Using the seed-based approach, we investigated the rs-FCs of DMN, particularly including the following two core regions of DMN: the anterior medial prefrontal cortex (aMPFC) and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) in 19 young male adults with high-functioning ASD (mean age = 25.3 ± 6.9 years; autism-spectrum quotient (AQ) = 33.4 ± 4.2; full scale IQ (F-IQ) = 109.7 ± 12.4) compared with 21 age- and IQ-matched young male adults from the TD group (mean age = 24.8 ± 4.3 years; AQ = 18.6 ± 5.7; F-IQ = 109.5 ± 8.7). We also analyzed the correlation between the strength of rs-FCs and autism spectrum traits measured using AQ score. Results: The strengths of rs-FCs from core regions of DMN were significantly lower in ASD participants than TD participants. Under multiple regression analysis, the strengths of rs-FCs in brain areas from aMPFC seed showed negative correlation with AQ scores in ASD participants and TD participants. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that the strength of rs-FCs in DMN is associated with autism spectrum traits in the TD population as well as patients with ASD, supporting the continuum view. The rs-FCs of DMN may be useful biomarkers for the objective identification of autism spectrum traits, regardless of ASD diagnosis. © 2014 Jung et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd

Noninvasive Measurement of [11C]PiB Distribution Volume Using Integrated PET/MRI

A noninvasive image-derived input function (IDIF) method using PET/MRI was applied to quantitative measurements of [11C] Pittsburgh compound-B (PiB) distribution volume (DV) and compared with other metrics. Fifty-three patients suspected of early dementia (71 &plusmn; 11 y) underwent 70 min [11C]PiB PET/MRI. Nineteen of them (68 &plusmn; 11 y) without head motion during the scan were enrolled in this study and compared with 16 age-matched healthy controls (CTL: 68 &plusmn; 11 y). The dynamic frames reconstructed from listmode PET data were used for DV calculation. IDIF with metabolite correction was applied to the Logan plot method, and DV was normalized into DV ratio (DVR) images using the cerebellar reference (DVRL). DVR and standardized uptake value ratio (SUVR) images were also calculated using the reference tissue graphical method (DVRr) and the 50&ndash;70 min static data with cerebellar reference, respectively. Cortical values were compared using the 3D-T1WI MRI segmentation. All patients were assigned to the early Alzheimer&rsquo;s disease (eAD) group because of positive [11C]PiB accumulation. The correlations of regional values were better for DVRL vs. DVRr (r2 = 0.97) than for SUVR vs. DVRr (r2 = 0.88). However, all metrics clearly differentiated eAD from CTL with appropriate thresholds. Noninvasive quantitative [11C]PiB PET/MRI measurement provided equivalent DVRs with the two methods. SUVR images showed acceptable results despite inferior variability and image quality to DVR images

P1-27: Localizing Regions Activated by Surface Gloss in Macaque Visual Cortex by fMRI

Surface properties of objects such as gloss provide important information about the states or materials of objects in our visual experiences. Previous studies have shown that there are cortical regions responding to shapes, colors, faces etc. in the macaque visual cortex. However, we still lack the information about where the surface properties are processed in the macaque visual cortex. In this study, we examined whether there are regions activated by surface gloss, an important surface property, in the macaque visual cortex by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We trained two monkeys to fixate on a small spot on the screen in MRI scanner, while the images of glossy and matte objects were presented. As a control condition for low-level image features, such as spatial frequency or luminance contrast, we generated scrambled images by locally randomizing the luminance phases of images using wavelet filters. By contrasting the responses to glossy images to those to matte and scrambled images, we found the activation in wide regions along the ventral visual pathway including V1, V2, V3, V4, and the posterior part of the inferior temporal (IT) cortex. In one monkey, we also found the activations in the central part of IT cortex. In another control experiment, we manipulated the image contrasts and found that the responses in these regions cannot be explained simply by the image contrasts. These results suggest that surface gloss is processed along the ventral pathway and, in the IT cortex there are distinct regions processing surface gloss