Positron Emission Tomography News and Research

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Whole-body positron emission tomography can reassure cervical cancer patients

Whole-body PET (positron emission tomography) scans done three months after completion of cervical cancer therapy can ensure that patients are disease-free or warn that further interventions are needed, according to a study at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

21 Nov 2007

PET scans useful for some cancer treatment, but how do patients fare?

Positron emission tomography or PET scans can help clinicians diagnose and treat some cancers, but it is not clear yet whether the imaging technology helps people with cancer live longer and healthier lives, according to a comprehensive review by the U.K. National Health Service.

14 Nov 2007

Maternal link to Alzheimer's disease found

People who have a mother with Alzheimer's disease appear to be at higher risk for getting the disease than those individuals whose fathers are afflicted, according to a new study by NYU School of Medicine researchers.

6 Nov 2007

PET scan distinguishes Alzheimer's from other dementia

A PET scan (positron emission tomography) that measures uptake of sugar in the brain significantly improves the accuracy of diagnosing a type of dementia often mistaken for Alzheimer's disease, a study led by a University of Utah dementia expert has found.

2 Nov 2007

More evidence dopamine plays a role in obesity

A brain-imaging study of genetically obese rats conducted at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory provides more evidence that dopamine - a brain chemical associated with reward, pleasure, movement, and motivation - plays a role in obesity.

25 Oct 2007

Quantitative PET imaging finds early determination of effectiveness of cancer treatment

With positron emission tomography (PET) imaging, seeing is believing: Evaluating a patient's response to chemotherapy for non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) typically involves visual interpretation of scans of cancer tumors.

24 Oct 2007

Cellular power plant fault explains abnormal metabolism of tumours

The increased consumption of glucose that tumour cells exhibit, was thought to be a cause of the extra demand of building blocks required to keep up with an uncontrolled cell growth, but now it is more accepted that it could be the effect of a programmed metabolic change that favours this malignant growth.

23 Oct 2007

18F-DG PET/CT can highly increase the detection of colorectal cancer

Combined positron emission tomography and computed tomography (PET/CT) is currently widely used in the clinical diagnosis of cancer to provide functional and morphological imaging.

10 Oct 2007

Researchers tackle phantom sounds of tinnitus

For the more than 50 million Americans who experience the phantom sounds of tinnitus -- ringing in the ears that can range from annoying to debilitating -- certain well-trained rats may be their best hope for finding relief.

8 Oct 2007

Microvascular disease mostly a concern for women

Coronary artery disease may take a different course in men and women, which may explain why the rate of death for women has declined more slowly than for men, according to the October issue of Mayo Clinic Health Letter.

4 Oct 2007

Research explains why opioids are thought to be ineffective in people with fibromyalgia

People who have the common chronic pain condition fibromyalgia often report that they don't respond to the types of medication that relieve other people's pain.

27 Sep 2007

MicroPET-based biodistribution of quantum dots in living mice

A wide variety of experiments have shown that nanoscale quantum dots have the potential to detect early-stage cancer and even monitor the progress of anticancer therapies.

27 Sep 2007

PET scans accurately detect a breast tumor's response to chemotherapy

Researchers in Australia have shown that positron emission tomography (PET) that uses a radioactive sugar molecule is more useful than mammography and ultrasound in predicting a breast tumour's response to chemotherapy and, therefore, the patient's ultimate likelihood of survival.

26 Sep 2007

New guidelines to diagnose Alzheimer's disease

Physicians may be able to detect and treat Alzheimer's Disease (AD) in its earliest stages, when patients are experiencing only mild degrees of cognitive impairment, thanks to new diagnostic criteria proposed by an international group of researchers.

18 Sep 2007

Positron emission tomography reliably identifies dangerous cervical tumors

It doesn't matter how small or large it is, if a cervical tumor glows brightly in a PET scan, it's apt to be more dangerous than dimmer tumors.

13 Sep 2007

PET MPI provides a more accurate "picture" of coronary obstruction

Physicians need to know how badly heart vessels are blocked before they can decide how to treat patients at risk of having a heart attack.

17 Aug 2007

High-tech diagnosis pinpoints causes of behavioral and psychiatric problems in patients

Is there a definitive test for mental illness? Not yet, but using advanced neuropsychiatric diagnostic tools including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET), mental health professionals at The Menninger Clinic in Houston are pinpointing the causes of behavioral and psychiatric problems in patients.

12 Aug 2007

ADHD linked to depressed dopamine activity in the brain

Adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) show a blunted response to the drug methylphenidate (Ritalin), which increases brain dopamine levels, according to a report in the August issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

7 Aug 2007