Dear Molecular Imaging Insider,
Everyone knows that the sooner a disease can be detected and treated, the better the chances are for patients to have a successful outcome. This strategy is likely most relevant for pediatric patients who still have their whole lives ahead of them.
To eradicate cancer from these young patients, FDG-PET/CT can play a valuable role in directing image-guided biopsies. Researchers from Saudi Arabia and Canada found FDG-PET images to be concordant with biopsy results in 36 of 37 cases, indicating that it would be quite useful in identifying the best site for biopsy.
Get an early look at the benefits of FDG-PET/CT in our Insider Exclusive.
There is also good news for radiopharmaceutical firms looking to advance their PET imaging agents. Action taken by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in 2013 in regard to the national coverage determination process is having a positive effect, with PET radiopharmaceuticals getting to market more quickly, according to a performance review.
More expeditious regulatory review eventually may help one novel PET tracer that targets olfactory neurons to assess the extent of disease. The work is backed by previous research suggesting that losing one's sense of smell can be a sign of neurodegeneration.
Meanwhile, SPECT/CT can be a valuable resource for diagnosing gastrointestinal and genitourinary bleeding in the emergency room setting. The hybrid modality completes its mission in a reasonable amount of additional time and can correctly identify the cause of bleeding in 96% of patients with previously inconclusive results from standard dynamic imaging studies.
Finally, we have a report on a new microscopy technique that can sort healthy from malignant brain tumors, making surgery safer and more precise. Researchers at the U.S. National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering say the approach speeds up the tissue-analysis process and enables automatic processing to be performed remotely.
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