Positron Emission Tomography News and Research

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Brain scan could reveal who will get Alzheimer's disease

According to researchers in California, a brain scan may possibly identify structural and metabolic brain changes that predict dementia or cognitive decline in normal older adults.

3 May 2006

Initial experience of FDG-PET/CT guided IMRT of head and neck carcinoma

Doctors have discovered that combining images derived from positron emission tomography and computed tomography in the planning and delivery of radiation treatment for patients with head and neck cancer leads to more accurate delivery of the radiation dose and an increased chance for survival.

3 May 2006

New Hybrid virus may aid treatment of cancer

Researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center have created a new class of hybrid virus and demonstrated its ability to find, highlight, and deliver genes to tumors in mice.

26 Apr 2006

Study shows drugs work differently in the brains of men and women

A Johns Hopkins discovery could lead to tailored treatments for drug abuse and neurological diseases after providing what is believed to be the first evidence in people that amphetamines have a greater effect on men's brains than women's.

24 Apr 2006

Men's and women's brains behave differently

A key part of the brain involved in processing emotionally-influenced memories acts differently in men and women, even in the absence of stimuli, UC Irvine researchers have found.

11 Apr 2006

Doctors must listen when patients talk of a failing memory

A team at the Aging and Memory Research Center, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles, has found that a higher self awareness of memory difficulties may be associated with brain function decline over time, particularly in older adults with a genetic risk for Alzheimer's disease.

6 Apr 2006

Higher self awareness of memory difficulties may be associated with brain function decline over time

Published in the April issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry, the study offers a greater understanding of how different types and varying degrees of memory complaints may relate to brain function decline, a finding that may lead to early treatment interventions for people who could develop Alzheimer's disease.

4 Apr 2006

Couch potato? no just motivational deficiency disordered!

According to Australian scientists, being a couch potato may actually be an illness.

3 Apr 2006

Positron emission tomography identifies esophageal cancer patients who will respond well to treatment

New research at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center shows that Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is more accurate than conventional imaging in identifying patients who have good responses to chemotherapy and radiation treatment - a finding that could one day help some patients avoid surgery.

22 Mar 2006

Donepezil (Aricept) helps cognitive function in brain tumor patients after radiation

A drug that is marketed to treat Alzheimer's disease also improves cognitive function, mood and quality of life in brain tumor patients following radiation therapy, according to a research team at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.

21 Mar 2006

Prevalence and patterns of physiologic muscle uptake detected with whole-body PET

Muscle activity - from turning a page in a book to shoveling snow - impacts positron emission tomography results, says study in journal of nuclear medicine technology.

9 Mar 2006

Better tests needed for fuller view of head injuries

Concussion patients with a normal head CT scan may believe they are free of brain injury, but CT scans often miss damage at the molecular level, warns a University of Rochester Medical Center study.

1 Mar 2006

Brain scans may detect neurological decline in normal people

Brain scans may detect neurological changes in people who exhibit no outward signs of cognitive decline but who later develop dementia or mental impairment, according to the results of a new study led by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley.

16 Feb 2006

PET imaging has the potential to improve cancer care management

A limitation of current cancer care is the difficulty of quickly assessing how well a therapy is working. However, expanding the use of existing positron emission tomography (PET) technology can provide early and accurate assessment of a tumor's response to a particular therapy allowing physicians to better tailor a patient's treatment

7 Feb 2006

Pain sensitivity is enhanced when people are thirsty

Researchers at Melbourne's Howard Florey Institute have discovered how the brain prioritises pain and thirst in order to survive - a mechanism that helps elite athletes to 'push through the pain barrier'.

7 Feb 2006

Researchers discover lowered sensitivity to smell when lying down

Before giving flowers or scattering rose petals on Valentine's Day, make sure your significant other has already gotten out of bed. In a study published recently in the journal Chemical Senses, researchers at the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) at McGill University discovered that sensitivity to rose odour is greater in subjects that are sitting than in those lying down.

2 Feb 2006

Research shows brain's ability to overcome pain and thirst

30 Jan 2006

New techniques are able to detect and monitor Alzheimer's disease

The search for new measures, or "biomarkers," to detect Alzheimer's disease (AD) before signs of memory loss appear has advanced an important step in a study by researchers at Washington University in St. Louis, MO, and the University of Pittsburgh.

22 Dec 2005

Microfluidics chips for simplifying medical imaging biomarkers of disease

A collaboration between scientists at UCLA, Caltech, Stanford, Siemens and Fluidigm have developed a new technology using integrated microfluidics chips for simplifying, lowering the cost and diversifying the types of molecules used to image the biology of disease with the medical imaging technology, Positron Emission Tomography (PET).

15 Dec 2005

Combining fMRI and PET scanning creates a way to compare different measurements of the brain's function concurrently

Clinical researchers from the University of Pennsylvania Health System (UPHS) are the first to combine fMRI and PET scanning in radiology, creating a way to compare different measurements of the brain's function concurrently. This analysis could lead to better diagnosis and treatment in patients suffering from brain disorders, like Alzheimer's disease.

12 Oct 2005