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Letter From the Editors: Nononcologic PET Imaging
Volume 43, Number 6
November 2013
Letter From the Editors: Nononcologic PET Imaging
T
his issue of the Seminars completes a 2-issue review of nononcologic uses of PET. Once again, the editors would like to thank Dr Charito Love for helping to prepare these issues and to see them through to publication. The first article in the issue by Sobic-Saranovic1 deals with the use of FDG PET imaging in sarcoidosis. This is a very promising area of development in nononcologic PET. The appearance of sarcoid can be very dramatic, revealing multiple areas of nodal disease that might not otherwise be detected. The extensive involvement of the lymphatic system with sarcoid is so impressive on PET that one must be careful not to confuse it with lymphoma. There can be little question that the use of PET will provide us with a new understanding of sarcoid, its distribution in the body and its response to therapy. The second article in this issue by Chen et al.2 deals with cystic fibrosis. This unfortunate disease that creates havoc for many children is one that requires careful evaluation, maintenance, and therapy. Great strides have been made in this area and PET promises to be one of the mechanisms by which the progress will continue. Drs Perlman, Hall, and Reichelderfer move us on to another area where imaging has a great deal to offer and where diagnosis can at times be difficult and elusive. They deal with imaging of inflammatory bowel disease,3 where once again PET brings us a step forward in noninvasive imaging. Dorothee Fischer4 reviews an old standby in Nuclear Medicine, musculoskeletal imaging, but the innovation here is the use of fluoride PET. Anyone who has seen a fluoride image of the skeletal system can truly appreciate the vast increase in information provided by this technique compared with the standard methylene diphosphonate bone scans. Dr Fischer puts this application nicely into perspective for us. Drs Brian McArdle, Dowsley, Cocker, Ohira, deKemp, DaSilva, Ruddy, Chow, and Beanlands of the University of Ottawa offer us a different look at cardiac PET, which was touched on in the preceding issue. This time we examine cardiac PET from the point of view of metabolic and functional imaging of the myocardium.5 There are many new agents on the horizon, which promise to place PET at the forefront of this area. Drs Nasrallah and Dubroff6 provide an overview of PET neuroimaging. This very early application of PET has an extensive literature and can be very complex. Complete issues
0001-2998/12/$ - see front matter & 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1053/j.semnuclmed.2013.06.008
of the seminars have been devoted to neuroimaging in the past. This comprehensive well-thought out review can serve as an overview and guide for the reader. A thorough understanding of neuronuclear imaging requires reference back to 1 of the previous seminars devoted solely to that topic. Finally, Taïeb et al.7 provide us with a review that bridges the gap between nononcologic and oncologic PET. This proffered article deals with current and future trends in head and neck paragangliomas. This is a very complex disease, which has oncologic and nononcologic as well as metabolic properties, all of which can be defined with PET imaging and the proper choice of radiopharmaceuticals. This issue concludes the nononcologic PET review but the reader should not think that it completes it. There are a great many uses of PET that do not involve oncology. Many of these applications are still early in their development. These 2 issues are intended to provide a perspective on some of the more advanced applications and their great value. Some of these have been around for very long time, such as cardiac and neurologic imaging with PET, others are relatively new and provide new insights into how to make diagnosis of diseases where ordinary imaging may not provide sufficient information. Leonard M. Freeman, MD M. Donald Blaufox, MD, PhD
References 1. Sobic-Saranovic D, Artiko V, Obradovic V: FDG PET imaging in sarcoidosis. Semin Nucl Med 2013;43(6):404-411 2. Chen DL, Atkinson JJ, Ferkol TW: FDG PET imaging in cystic fibrosis. Semin Nucl Med 2013;43(6):412-419 3. Perlman SB, Hall BS, Reichelderfer M: PET/CT imaging of inflammatory bowel disease. Semin Nucl Med 2013;43(6):420-426 4. Fischer DR: Muskuloskeletal imaging using fluoride PET. Semin Nucl Med 2013;43(6):427-433 5. Mc Ardle B, Dowsley TF, Cocker MS, et al: Cardiac PET: Metabolic and functional imaging of the myocardium. Semin Nucl Med 2013;43(6): 434-448 6. Nasrallah I, Dubroff J: An overview of PET neuroimaging. Semin Nucl Med 2013;43(6):449-461 7. Taïeb D, Varoquaux A, Chen CC, et al: Current and future trends in the anatomic and functional imaging of head and neck paragangliomas. Semin Nucl Med 2013;43(6):462-473
403
November 2013
Letter From the Editors: Nononcologic PET Imaging
T
his issue of the Seminars completes a 2-issue review of nononcologic uses of PET. Once again, the editors would like to thank Dr Charito Love for helping to prepare these issues and to see them through to publication. The first article in the issue by Sobic-Saranovic1 deals with the use of FDG PET imaging in sarcoidosis. This is a very promising area of development in nononcologic PET. The appearance of sarcoid can be very dramatic, revealing multiple areas of nodal disease that might not otherwise be detected. The extensive involvement of the lymphatic system with sarcoid is so impressive on PET that one must be careful not to confuse it with lymphoma. There can be little question that the use of PET will provide us with a new understanding of sarcoid, its distribution in the body and its response to therapy. The second article in this issue by Chen et al.2 deals with cystic fibrosis. This unfortunate disease that creates havoc for many children is one that requires careful evaluation, maintenance, and therapy. Great strides have been made in this area and PET promises to be one of the mechanisms by which the progress will continue. Drs Perlman, Hall, and Reichelderfer move us on to another area where imaging has a great deal to offer and where diagnosis can at times be difficult and elusive. They deal with imaging of inflammatory bowel disease,3 where once again PET brings us a step forward in noninvasive imaging. Dorothee Fischer4 reviews an old standby in Nuclear Medicine, musculoskeletal imaging, but the innovation here is the use of fluoride PET. Anyone who has seen a fluoride image of the skeletal system can truly appreciate the vast increase in information provided by this technique compared with the standard methylene diphosphonate bone scans. Dr Fischer puts this application nicely into perspective for us. Drs Brian McArdle, Dowsley, Cocker, Ohira, deKemp, DaSilva, Ruddy, Chow, and Beanlands of the University of Ottawa offer us a different look at cardiac PET, which was touched on in the preceding issue. This time we examine cardiac PET from the point of view of metabolic and functional imaging of the myocardium.5 There are many new agents on the horizon, which promise to place PET at the forefront of this area. Drs Nasrallah and Dubroff6 provide an overview of PET neuroimaging. This very early application of PET has an extensive literature and can be very complex. Complete issues
0001-2998/12/$ - see front matter & 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1053/j.semnuclmed.2013.06.008
of the seminars have been devoted to neuroimaging in the past. This comprehensive well-thought out review can serve as an overview and guide for the reader. A thorough understanding of neuronuclear imaging requires reference back to 1 of the previous seminars devoted solely to that topic. Finally, Taïeb et al.7 provide us with a review that bridges the gap between nononcologic and oncologic PET. This proffered article deals with current and future trends in head and neck paragangliomas. This is a very complex disease, which has oncologic and nononcologic as well as metabolic properties, all of which can be defined with PET imaging and the proper choice of radiopharmaceuticals. This issue concludes the nononcologic PET review but the reader should not think that it completes it. There are a great many uses of PET that do not involve oncology. Many of these applications are still early in their development. These 2 issues are intended to provide a perspective on some of the more advanced applications and their great value. Some of these have been around for very long time, such as cardiac and neurologic imaging with PET, others are relatively new and provide new insights into how to make diagnosis of diseases where ordinary imaging may not provide sufficient information. Leonard M. Freeman, MD M. Donald Blaufox, MD, PhD
References 1. Sobic-Saranovic D, Artiko V, Obradovic V: FDG PET imaging in sarcoidosis. Semin Nucl Med 2013;43(6):404-411 2. Chen DL, Atkinson JJ, Ferkol TW: FDG PET imaging in cystic fibrosis. Semin Nucl Med 2013;43(6):412-419 3. Perlman SB, Hall BS, Reichelderfer M: PET/CT imaging of inflammatory bowel disease. Semin Nucl Med 2013;43(6):420-426 4. Fischer DR: Muskuloskeletal imaging using fluoride PET. Semin Nucl Med 2013;43(6):427-433 5. Mc Ardle B, Dowsley TF, Cocker MS, et al: Cardiac PET: Metabolic and functional imaging of the myocardium. Semin Nucl Med 2013;43(6): 434-448 6. Nasrallah I, Dubroff J: An overview of PET neuroimaging. Semin Nucl Med 2013;43(6):449-461 7. Taïeb D, Varoquaux A, Chen CC, et al: Current and future trends in the anatomic and functional imaging of head and neck paragangliomas. Semin Nucl Med 2013;43(6):462-473
403