• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.259-268
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• 2010

Breast cancer is the most prevalent woman cancer, and its prevalence rate is increasing rapidly. It is necessary to develop the breast-dedicated positron emission tomography (PET) or positron emission mammography (PEM) systems with high resolution and sensitivity to improve the accuracy of diagnosis of breast cancer. Therefore, it is necessary to develop the high-end PET system technologies, such as the measurement of depth-of-interaction (DOI) and fully digitalized data acquisition, to establish high performance breast imaging systems. In this paper, recent technical advances in breast-dedicated PET imaging systems will be reviewed.

• Dementia and Neurocognitive Disorders
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.90-99
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• 2018

Background and Purpose: To explore anatomic substrate of specific wandering patterns in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) by performing positron emission tomography with $^{18}F$ fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG PET). Methods: Drug-naïve AD patients with wandering (n=80) and without wandering (n=262) were recruited. First, the specific pattern of wandering type was operationally classified according to specific wandering score and clinical assessment. Second, brain FDG PET was performed and fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake differences of specific brain regions according to wandering patterns were compared to those of non-wanderers. Results: In patients with pacing pattern, FDG PET showed significant lower FDG uptake in both middle cingulum and left putamen cluster compared to non-wanderers. The right precuneus and supplementary motor area in patients with random pattern and left calcarine sulcus, right calcarine sulcus, right middle cingulum, and right post central gyrus in patients with lapping pattern had significantly lower FDG uptake compared to non-wanderers. Conclusions: This study showed that wandering in patients with AD had three distinct patterns. These specific patterns showed significant lower FDG uptake in specific brain areas compared to non-wanderers.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.51-57
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• 2016

In this study, the features of canine lymphoma on fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) were evaluated in three small breed dogs. In case 1, ultrasonography and CT indicated neoplastic involvement of the sternal, right axillary, submandibular, lower cervical, tracheobronchial, mesenteric, and sublumbar lymph nodes; spleen; and liver. However, intense FDG uptake on PET/CT images was detected only for the lymph nodes and spleen. No FDG uptake by the liver was detected for case 1 despite the confirmation of lymphoma by cytology. In case 2, ultrasonography and CT indicated neoplastic involvement of the axillary, mesenteric, and sublumbar lymph nodes and the spleen, while intense FDG uptake on PET/CT images was detected for the axillary and a few mesenteric lymph nodes, and the spleen. FDG uptake was additionally observed from popliteal lymph nodes, however there was no uptake by the sublumbar lymph nodes and some mesenteric lymph nodes. In case 3, neoplastic changes in the splenic, mesenteric, and sublumbar lymph nodes and spleen were suspected on ultrasonography, and lower cervical and popliteal lymph node involvements were additionally detected on PET/CT. Compared to ultrasonography, repeated PET/CT showed increased FDG uptake by the lymph nodes at an earlier stage after chemotherapy in case 3. This study illustrated the features of PET/CT in canine lymphomas and compared those to ultrasonography and CT findings. FDG uptakes were not detected from some lesions which were suspected to be neoplastic involvement in case 1 and 2. We could not clearly explain the reason of this result in the present study because cytological or histological examination was not performed for lesions that showed different results on ultrasonography, CT, and PET/CT. Further studies on the subclassification of canine lymphoma and the sensitivity and specificity of PET/CT for the detection of canine lymphoma are required. PET/CT data can provide useful information for predicting the therapeutic response at an early stage after treatment.

• Archives of Craniofacial Surgery
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.21-24
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• 2017

Background: In evaluation of craniosynostosis patients in terms of neurodevelopmental delay, positron emission tomography computed tomography (PET-CT) scan can be used to assess brain abnormalities through glucose metabolism. We aimed to determine the unnecessity of PET-CT in this study. Methods: Thirty-eight patients diagnosed with craniosynostosis who underwent distraction osteogenesis from October, 2010 to November, 2013 were reviewed. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and PET-CT scan were carried out for evaluation of the brain structure and function, whereas X-ray and CT scan were taken for evaluation of the skull. Results: Nine patients reported abnormal MRI findings which were not significant, and five patients showed local problem on brain on PET-CT scan. No correlation was found among them. Conclusion: PET-CT evaluation of possible abnormal brain findings do not affect surgical planning or require additional therapy. Preoperative PET-CT scan is not the essential study to get any etiologic information of the disease consequences or to establish the treatment plan.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Oncology
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.135-141
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• 2018

Purpose: Axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) and sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) are important for staging of patients with node-positive breast cancer. However, these can be avoided in select micrometastatic diseases, preventing postoperative complications. The present study evaluated the ability of axillary lymph node maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) on positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) to predict axillary metastasis of breast cancer. Methods: The records of invasive breast cancer patients who underwent pretreatment (surgery and/or chemotherapy) PET-CT between January 2006 and December 2014 were reviewed. ALNs were preoperatively evaluated by PET-CT. Lymph nodes were dissected by SLNB or ALND. SUVmax was measured in both the axillary lymph node and primary tumor. Student t-test and chi-square test were used to analyze sensitivity and specificity. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) and area under the ROC curve (AUC) analyses were performed. Results: SUV-tumor (SUV-T) and SUV-lymph node (SUV-LN) were significantly higher in the triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) group than in other groups (SUV-T: 5.99, P<0.01; SUV-LN: 1.29, P=0.014). The sensitivity (0.881) and accuracy (0.804) for initial ALN staging were higher in fine needle aspiration+PET-CT than in other methods. For PET-CT alone, the subtype with the highest sensitivity (0.870) and negative predictive value (0.917) was TNBC. The AUC for SUV-LN was greatest in TNBC (0.797). Conclusion: The characteristics of SUV-T and SUV-LN differed according to immunohistochemistry subtype. Compared to other subtypes, the true positivity of axillary metastasis on PET-CT was highest in TNBC. These findings could help tailor management for therapeutic and diagnostic purposes.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2014

Aerobic glycolysis has been the most important hypothesis in cancer metabolism. It seems to be related to increased bioenergetic and biosynthetic needs in rapidly proliferating cancer cells. To this end, F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG), a glucose analog, became widely popular for the detection of malignancies combined with positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT). Although the potential roles of FDG PET/CT in primary tumor detection are not fully established, it seems to have a limited sensitivity in detecting early gastric cancer and mainly signet ring or non-solid types of advanced gastric cancer. In evaluating lymph node metastases, the location of lymph nodes and the degree of FDG uptake in primary tumors appear to be important factors affecting the diagnostic accuracy of PET/CT. In spite of the limited sensitivity, the high specificity of PET/CT for lymph node metastases may play an important role in changing the extent of lymphadenectomy or reducing futile laparotomies. For peritoneal metastases, PET/CT seems to have a poorer sensitivity but a better specificity than CT. The roles of PET/CT in the evaluation of other distant metastases are yet to be known. Studies including primary tumors with low FDG uptake or peritoneal recurrence seem suffer from poorer diagnostic performance for the detection of recurrent gastric cancer. There are only a few reports using FDG PET/CT to predict response to neoadjuvant or adjuvant chemotherapy. A complete metabolic response seems to be predictive of more favorable prognosis.

• Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.71-77
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• 2007

Advance of neuroimaging technique has greatly influenced recent brain research field. Among various neuroimaging modalities, positron emission tomography has played a key role in molecular neuroimaging though functional MRI has taken over its role in the cognitive neuroscience. As the analysis technique for PET data is more sophisticated, the complexity of the method is more increasing. Despite the wide usage of the neuroimaging techniques, the assumption and limitation of procedures have not often been dealt with for the clinician and researchers, which might be critical for reliability and interpretation of the results. In the current paper, steps of voxel-based statistical analysis of PET including preprocessing, intensity normalization, spatial normalization, and partial volume correction will be revisited in terms of the principles and limitations. Additionally, new image analysis techniques such as surface-based PET analysis, correlational analysis and multimodal imaging by combining PET and DTI, PET and TMS or EEG will also be discussed.

• Brain Tumor Research and Treatment
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.47-53
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• 2018

Brain tumors represent a diverse spectrum of histology, biology, prognosis, and treatment options. Although MRI remains the gold standard for morphological tumor characterization, positron emission tomography (PET) can play a critical role in evaluating disease status. This article focuses on the use of PET with radiolabeled glucose and amino acid analogs to aid in the diagnosis of tumors and differentiate between recurrent tumors and radiation necrosis. The most widely used tracer is $^{18}F$-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG). Although the intensity of FDG uptake is clearly associated with tumor grade, the exact role of FDG PET imaging remains debatable. Additionally, high uptake of FDG in normal grey matter limits its use in some low-grade tumors that may not be visualized. Because of their potential to overcome the limitation of FDG PET of brain tumors, $^{11}C$-methionine and $^{18}F$-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (FDOPA) have been proposed. Low accumulation of amino acid tracers in normal brains allows the detection of low-grade gliomas and facilitates more precise tumor delineation. These amino acid tracers have higher sensitivity and specificity for detecting brain tumors and differentiating recurrent tumors from post-therapeutic changes. FDG and amino acid tracers may be complementary, and both may be required for assessment of an individual patient. Additional tracers for brain tumor imaging are currently under development. Combinations of different tracers might provide more in-depth information about tumor characteristics, and current limitations may thus be overcome in the near future. PET with various tracers including FDG, $^{11}C$-methionine, and FDOPA has improved the management of patients with brain tumors. To evaluate the exact value of PET, however, additional prospective large sample studies are needed.

• Annals of Clinical Neurophysiology
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.13-24
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• 2008

Functional neuroimaging, especially positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), is the main tool that allows the unveiling of the neurovascular events during a migraine attack. In migraine with aura, functional neuroimaging has contributed greatly to the understanding of the fundamental pathophysiology of the visual aura, whereas in migraine without aura, the PET findings of brainstem activation suggest a pivotal role of brainstem in the generation of migraine headache. In addition, voxel-based morphometry (VBM) method has provided an insight into the morphometric changes of the brain, which might be considered as a consequence of repeated migraine attacks. In this article, I will briefly discuss the main neuroimaging findings pertaining to the pathophysiology of migraine.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.118-123
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• 2005

Positron emission tomography (PET) serves as a gold standard for noninvasive in vivo measurement of myocardial blood flow (MBF) and coronary flow reserve (CFR). CFR can be defined as the ratio of maximally vasodilated MBF over its basal flow. It is an important parameter for the evaluation of functional severity of coronary stenosis and prognositification in various diseases such as dilated cardiomyopathy. $^{13}NH_3,\;H_2^{15}O,\;^{82}Rb$ are widely used radiopharmaceuticals for measuring MBF and CFR, This review introduces imaging techniques and its clinical utility. Cardiac application or PET and PET/CT is expected to be increased in near future.