Dear Molecular Imaging Insider,
This year's RSNA annual meeting is complete, and now is the time to catch up on the hundreds of scientific papers and poster presentations that contributed to the event.
Among the noteworthy research is the potentially expanding use of carbon-11-labeled Pittsburgh Compound B (PiB) with PET imaging. The combination is primarily associated with the identification of amyloid deposits in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease.
Our Insider Exclusive offers a first look at the work of researchers from the Mayo Clinic, who are using PiB-PET to distinguish meningiomas from other intracranial tumors. The approach could improve patient triage and treatment without the need for invasive testing and the associated potential morbidity.
Other RSNA 2016 highlights include the recommendation that adding a scan of the entire head to a routine whole-body PET/MRI protocol can reveal a significant number of incidental findings in asymptomatic cancer patients. The previously unknown findings could have implications for patient treatment or prognosis.
Also from Chicago comes confirmation that FDG-PET/CT's high specificity and negative predictive value can accurately detect distant metastases in women with cervical or endometrial cancer and spare them from unnecessary aggressive therapy
There also is a perfect storm brewing in the global SPECT market that could see the prices of SPECT radiopharmaceuticals skyrocket over the next five years. A number of factors are coalescing that could lead to a shortage of SPECT tracers for years to come.
Finally, a study from the recent American Heart Association annual meeting found that patients with a normal stress test but evidence of calcium in coronary arteries on PET/CT scans are not immune from a serious adverse cardiac event within a year. As many as 5% of patients who had moderate, severe, or very severe levels of calcium soon had a heart attack or stroke or died -- despite no evidence of blockage on stress tests.
For these articles and more, go to our Molecular Imaging Community for all the latest news and research from around the world.
