Dear Molecular Imaging Insider,
A PET/MRI method that measures two important biomarkers (amyloid plaque and cerebral blood flow) in a single session in people with memory concerns could improve the characterization of dementia pathophysiology, as well as reduce cost and inconvenience for participants and their caregivers, according to researchers at Stanford University. To that end, the group recently developed just such an approach, with the research highlighted in this issue’s featured article.
Several PET/MRI studies were featured at this year’s RSNA annual meeting, and we were there in Chicago to cover the presentations.
For instance, a group in Germany suggested that clinicians ditch the contrast agent when performing PET/MRI scans in children newly diagnosed with lymphoma. In a study, the researchers found the use of contrast agent made no diagnostic difference.
In another study, gallium-68 RM2-PET/MRI was found to be better than MRI alone for detecting relapse in prostate cancer patients, with the tracer detecting prostate cancer that prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-PET radiotracers may miss.
That wasn’t all from RSNA. Here are a few other stories featured in our coverage:
- F-18 fluciclovine PET/CT can detect metastatic lesions in women with invasive lobular carcinoma, according to a study from Emory University.
- A researcher from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City presented a study showing that F-18 FDG-PET/CT scans may predict outcomes in patients with large B cell lymphoma undergoing chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy.
- ChatGPT shows potential for diagnosing nuclear medicine cases, yet needs further development before it can be implemented in practice, according to a presentation from the University of California, Irvine.
- Andrew Voter, MD, of Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore, MD, presented preliminary work on an AI algorithm based on F-18 DCFPyL PSMA-PET/CT images. The algorithm is designed to predict treatment response in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.
Exciting news prior to RSNA included several stories on Alzheimer’s disease. The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced in mid-October that it would lift its coverage limit of one beta-amyloid PET scan per lifetime for patients with Alzheimer’s disease.
The decision was based in part on mounting evidence that PET can reveal patient responses to new Alzheimer’s disease drugs, as in a story we posted about researchers exploring this issue in patients with tau pathology.
Finally, with many people infected by COVID-19 experiencing long-term symptoms (long COVID brain fog, for instance), we noted that a group in France has offered an explanation for the condition based on a visual brain pattern they discovered on patient PET scans.
For more molecular imaging news, be sure to check in regularly with our Molecular Imaging Community.
