Dear Molecular Imaging Insider,
This issue of the Insider offers a look at a new study that affirms SPECT's ability to distinguish between post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI) in military veterans.
The ability to tell the difference between the conditions is important because treatments for PTSD could provide no clinical benefit for TBI patients -- or even harm them.
Perhaps most importantly, SPECT imaging for PTSD and TBI will add to the effort to gather as much information as possible about the disorders from a variety of imaging modalities, according to the researchers. Learn more about the study in our Insider Exclusive, available to you first as an Insider subscriber.
In other noteworthy feature articles, a negative PET scan immediately after three cycles of chemotherapy for early-stage Hodgkin's lymphoma can identify patients with an excellent prognosis and avoid unnecessary additional radiation therapy, researchers from the U.K. reported.
In another study, patients with chest pain who underwent SPECT myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) with an ultralow-radiation-dose gamma camera had no major cardiac events a year later. The results indicate that MPI radiation dose can be slashed without adverse clinical effects.
Meanwhile, German researchers are reporting early success in performing PET/CT with a novel gallium-68-labeled prostate-specific membrane antigen ligand to detect prostate cancer recurrence after radical prostatectomy. The findings could help with early detection of prostate cancer recurrence and lead to more appropriate and successful treatment of the disease.
Finally, when researchers used the PET radiopharmaceutical FDDNP to image the brains of former NFL players who had experienced multiple concussions, they saw patterns similar to those in patients with chronic traumatic encephalopathy.
The Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging annual meeting is just a few weeks away, and AuntMinnie.com will be in Baltimore to cover the event. Watch for daily updates in your Molecular Imaging Community.
