Primary and metastatic breast carcinoma: initial clinical evaluation with PET with the radiolabeled glucose analogue 2-/F-18~-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose
Article Abstract:
One in 10 women will develop breast cancer at some time in their lives. Presently, the best treatments require accurate knowledge of the characteristics of the tumor, such as its precise location and its stage of progression. A number of different diagnostic imaging techniques are currently in use, but none are completely satisfactory in their ability to find and characterize breast tumors, hence a combination is usually used. A single technique that could be used from diagnosis through treatment and follow-up is desirable. Cancerous tumors are known to metabolize glucose at a faster rate than normal tissues. An analogue of glucose that is radiolabeled, 2-/F-18~-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG), is also taken up by tumors at a faster rate than the rate of uptake by surrounding tissues. FDG is not metabolized, and thus it accumulates. The radioactive label emits positrons which can be detected by positron emission tomography (PET), an imaging technique in which the body is scanned and images are generated by a computer. This technique has been useful in detecting other tumors. This study examined using FDG PET to evaluate breast cancers. Twelve patients with already diagnosed breast cancer (either primary, metastatic or both) were evaluated with the technique. Results showed that FDG PET detected all 10 primary tumors. FDG uptake in these tumors averaged eight times greater than in surrounding tissues. In two patients with dense breasts, FDG uptake was greater in the cancerous breast than the noncancerous breast. Ten known areas of cancer involving bone were also detected by FDG PET, with an average FDG uptake of 6.05 times greater in cancerous tissue than normal tissue. PET also detected all five known cancers involving lymph nodes and detected four more that had not been diagnosed previously. These results indicate that FDG PET may be very useful in locating and evaluating breast cancers. Further studies of its effectiveness are needed. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)
Publication Name: Radiology
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0033-8419
Year: 1991
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Update on radiopharmaceuticals for medical imaging
Article Abstract:
Many new radiopharmaceuticals used in medical diagnostic imaging (imaging agents) are employed in Europe, Japan, Australia, and elsewhere. The impact of these new imaging agents in the US will have a significant impact on the practice of nuclear medicine's use of SPECT imaging (Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography) as it is applied to anatomical and metabolic diagnoses of the human body. Improvements in SPECT technology, will permit researchers to use imaging agents to document lesions (wounds or damaged regions) with greater accuracy. Clinical nuclear medicine in the US will improve in many areas: metastatic (the spread of diseased cells within the body, especially cancer cells) bone disease evaluation; differentiation between ischemia (lack of oxygen in a tissue) and infarction (tissue death due to a blockage of blood supply) in the brain and heart; and improved lung ventilation (air exchange in the lung) studies. The new lung imaging agents will be useful for detecting chronic obstructive airway disease. A new generation of radioactive aerosols will show abnormalities of pulmonary (lung ) size and shape (compliance), such as fibrous tissue development (interstitial fibrosis) or edema (fluid accumulation). In studies to detect strokes imaging agents labeled with radioactive iodine are being tested for their ability to locate clots (thrombi) in blood vessels because strokes are often due to the rupture of vessels or to clots in blood vessels in the brain. Better SPECT images of the brain will allow the degree of stroke-related damage to be assessed in order to develop appropriate rehabilitation programs for patients. Other diagnostic imaging tests (kidney studies, tumor studies, detection of inflammation, evaluation of gastrointestinal bleeding) will improve as the new generation of imaging agents are approved by the US government's Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Publication Name: Radiology
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0033-8419
Year: 1989
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Mesenteric vascular occlusion: a new diagnostic method using radiolabeled monoclonal antibody reactive with platelets
Article Abstract:
The noninvasive diagnosis of acute (sudden onset) bowel disease has been improved with use of technetium-99-m (Tc-99-m) labeled monoclonal antibody (a genetically engineered substance that is linked to an imaging agent for diagnostic purposes). Tc-99-m is a radioactive imaging agent that is employed in scintigraphic scanning (which produces a 'map' of organs that selectively absorb the radioactive substance). Tc-99-m was used to highlight areas of the bowel as a new means of providing a diagnosis for a condition in which the bowel is ischemic (deprived of adequate blood flow) due to blockage of arteries (occlusion) supplying blood. The experimental technique was tested on animal subjects. Tc-99-m, the radioactive imaging agent, was labeled (tagged or 'bound') to a monoclonal antibody (genetically engineered substances made laboratories that identify areas of disease in the body), was rapidly absorbed by the ischemic tissue in the bowel, thereby identifying the damaged area. Animal test results suggest Tc-99-m will be useful in the evaluation of constrictive vessel diseases in humans. The substance may also help identify bowel segments that have suffered tissue damage due to lack of due to adequate blood flow. More tests of this substance in human subjects are required. Further research is needed in order to perfect the use of this technique in humans.
Publication Name: Radiology
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0033-8419
Year: 1989
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