Hepatobiliary scintigraphy with SPET in the diagnosis of bronchobiliary fistula due to a hydatid cyst

In this report, we present the application of hepatobiliary scintigraphy using Tc-99m mebrofenin in the diagnosis of bronchobiliary fistula caused by a liver hydatid cyst, which penetrated the diaphragm. Hepatobiliary scintigraphy noticeably depicted the leakage of the tracer from the biliary system of the liver to the bronchial tree. Hepatobiliary scintigraphy stands as a robust modality in the accurate diagnosis and treatment planning of bronchobiliary fistulas. © 2015, P.Ziti and Co. All rights reserved

Sternal nonunion on bone scintigraphy: A case report

Sternal non-union is a severe complication of sternotomy closure following open heart surgeries. Healing problems typically occur in 0.3% to 5% of patients. Technetium-99m methylene diphosphonate (99mTc-MDP) bone scintigraphy has been used to assess bone nonunion to predict the healing response for proper management. In this report, we present the case of a marked sternal nonunion following coronary artery bypass graft (CABG), using radionuclide bone scintigraphy

The effect of an iodine restricted including no sea foods diet, on technetium-99m thyroid scintigraphy: A neglected issue in nuclear medicine practice

Although it is recommended to patients to avoid sea food and iodine-containing medications prior to iodine-131 ( 131I) scanning, the efficacy of this diet as for technetium-99m pertechnetate ( 99mTc-P) thyroid scintigraphy is not well addressed in the literature. We evaluated a self-managed, outpatients, iodine restricted diet (IRD) designed to reduce total body iodine in preparation for such a scan. We have studied 39 patients who referred to our Department for multinodular goiter, 30 females and 9 males, aged: 14-54 years and their 99mTc-P thyroid scintigraphy showed poor visualization of the thyroid gland. These patiens were living in regions with high consumption of sea foods went underwent a two-weeks iodine restriction including restriction of sea food diet for the reduction of iodine body content. These patients were called for a repeated scan after going on a IRD for at least two weeks. The two scans were compared visually, and by semiquantitative analysis. Semiquantitative analysis was applied in 8 regions of interest (ROI) by using Wilcoxon signed rank test. Thirty-six subjects had better quality scintigraphy images in the post IRD thyroid scan, as was visually assessed by two nuclear medicine physicians. Semiquantitatetively, there was a significant difference in the mean counts of ROI of the right and the left thyroid lobes in favor of the post IRD scans (P<0.05). In conclusion, this study suggests that in patients with multinodular goiter, living in regions with high consumption of sea foods a two-weeks diet for the reduction of iodine body content induces in most of the cases a slightly better diagnostic thyroid 99mTc-P scan

99mTc-MIBI Lung Scintigraphy in the Assessment of Pulmonary Involvement in Interstitial Lung Disease and Its Comparison With Pulmonary Function Tests and High-Resolution Computed Tomography: A Preliminary Study

The differentiation of active inflammatory processes from an inactive form of the disease is of great value in the management of interstitial lung disease (ILD). The aim of this investigation was to assess the efficacy of 99mTc-methoxy-isobutyl-isonitrile (99mTc-MIBI) scans in distinguishing the severity of the disease compared to radiological and clinical parameters.In total, 19 known cases of ILD were included in this study and were followed up for 1 year. Five patients without lung disease were considered as the control group. The patients underwent pulmonary function tests (PFTs) and high-resolution computed tomography scans, followed by 99mTc-MIBI scanning. The 99mTc-MIBI scans were analyzed either qualitatively (subjectively) or semiquantitatively.All 19 ILD patients demonstrated a strong increase in 99mTc-MIBI uptake in the lungs compared to the control group. The 99mTc-MIBI scan scores were higher in the patient group in both the early phase (0.240.19-0.31 vs 0.110.10-0.15, P 0.14). The 99mTc-MIBI scan scores were not significantly correlated with the PFT findings (P > 0.05). In total, 5 patients died and 14 patients were still alive over the 1-year follow-up period. There was also a significant difference between the uptake intensity of 99mTc-MIBI and the outcome in the early phase (dead: 0.320.29-0.43 vs alive: 0.210.18-0.24, P < 0.05) and delayed phase (dead: 0.270.22-0.28 vs alive: 0.100.07-0.19, P < 0.05).The washout rate was ~40 min starting from 20 min up to 60 min and this rate was significantly different in our 2 study groups (ILD: 46.6115.61-50.39 vs NL: 70.9127.09-116.36, P = 0.04).The present study demonstrated that 99mTc-MIBI lung scans might distinguish the severity of pulmonary involvement in early views, which were well correlated with HRCT findings. These results also revealed that 99mTc-MIBI lung scans might be used as a complement to other diagnostic and clinical examinations in terms of functional information in ILD; however, further investigations are strongly required