Imaging whole-body

MDCT, the diagnostic test of choice in multisystem trauma, produces fast, accurate high-quality images. Whole-body CT in multisystem trauma generally comprises a noncontrast-enhanced head scan, which is followed by a contrast-enhanced chest and abdominal scan. 

Bloch, S., Lesage, F., McIntosh, L., Gandjbakhche, A., Liang, K. and Achilefu, S. (2005). Whole-body fluorescence lifetime imaging of a tumor-targeted near-infrared molecular probe in mice. J. Biomed. Opt. 10, 054003. 

Stoeckli M, Staab D, Schweitzer A. Compound and metabolite distribution measured by MALDI mass spectrometric imaging in whole-body tissue sections. Int. J. Mass Spectrom. 2006 260 195-202. 

Magnetic Resonance Imaging on whole body units provides visualization of tissue inside slices with a thickness of several millimetres. The spatial resolution in the plain is often better than one millimetre so that even relatively small structures can be well depicted. However, the spatial resolution is not sufficient to resolve the microscopic structures mentioned in Section 2. Only the cross-sections of single muscles and septa from fatty tissue or cormective tissue can be visualized in MR images recorded from humans in vivo. 

The field of view for the ultrasound equipment is rather small, typically, not more than 20-30 cm and just a few centimeters at higher spatial resolution. Normally, a cross-sectional image in the plane of the imaging probe is obtained. Respectively, the operator must know where to place the transducer to locate the area of an expected lesion, as compared with a whole-body CT, the wide flat view of planar X-ray or MRI scans. 

Valk PE, Pounds TR, Hopkins DM, et al. Staging non-small cell lung cancer by whole-body positron emission tomographic imaging. AnnThor Surg 1995 60 1573-1582. 

B. Tavitian, S. Marzabal, V. Boutet, B. Kuhnast, S. Terrazzino, M. Moynier, F. Dolle, J.R. Deverre, A.R. Thierry, Characterization of a synthetic anionic vector for oligonucleotide delivery using in vivo whole body dynamic imaging, Pharm. Res. 19 (2002) 367-376. 

In 1998, the first PET/CT scanner, combining functional information with morphological information, was introduced by Townsend and co-workers [3], Combined PET/CT devices offer an efficient tool for whole-body staging and restaging functional assessment within one imaging modality. PET/CT scanners allow a merging of complementary information from CT and PET, leading to a more accurate anatomic localization. Furthermore, a more precise assessment of tumor volume is possible in comparison to PET. 

Evaluating recurrent or residual follicular cell tumors (treated previously by thyroidectomy and radioiodine ablation) when serum thyroglobulin >10 ng/ml and 2 1 whole-body scan is negative (October 2003) Detecting pretreatment metastases in newly diagnosed cervical cancer after negative conventional imaging (January 2005)... 

The combination of whole-body anatomical (CT) and functional (PET) imaging offers an efficient tool for whole-body staging, restaging and therapy control and functional assessment in one device. PET/CT enables the assessment of the exact tumor volume. Recently, studies evaluating the impact of [ F]-FDG-PET/CT on diagnosing and treating colorectal cancer have been published (Fig. 1) [28-31]. 

Schirrmeister et al. prospectively evaluated the clinical value of planar bone scans, SPECT and [ F]-labeled sodium fluoride in 53 patients with newly diagnosed lung cancer [193], Twelve of the 53 patients turned out to have bone metas-tases. [ F]-fluoride-PET detected all patients with bone metastases, whereas bone scan and SPECT produced false-negative results (6 vs. 1). An area under the curve analysis (ROC) proved p F]-fluoride-PET to be the most accurate whole-body imaging modality for screening of bone metastases in this study. 

M. Lonneux, I. Borbath, M. Berliere, C. Kirkove, S. Pauwels, The place of whole-body PET FDG for the diagnosis of distant recurrence of breast cancer, Clin. Positron. Imaging 3(2) (2000) 45-49. 

C.C. Meltzer, J.D. Luketich, D. Friedman, M. Charron, D. Strollo, M. Meehan, G. K. Urso, M.A. Dachille, D.W. Townsend, Whole-body FDG positron emission tomographic imaging for staging esophageal cancer comparison with computed tomography, Clin. Nucl. Med. 25(11) (2000) 882-887. 

D. Vranjesevic, J.E. Filmont, J. Meta, D.H. Silverman, M.E. Phelps, J. Rao, P.E. Valk, J. Czernin, Whole-body (18)F-FDG PET and conventional imaging for predicting outcome in previously treated breast cancer patients, J. Nucl. Med. 43 (2002) 325-329. 

The speed with which NMR spectroscopy has been incorporated into scientific inquiry is truly amazing. The first commercial spectrometers became available in the 1950s. By the middle 1980s whole bodies could be placed in the probes of NMR spectrometers (magnetic resonance imaging) and the structures of body parts could be determined in exquisite detail. Today structures of proteins and other macromolecules in solution or in the solid state are determined routinely. What was unthinkable in the 1960s is routinely practiced today even by undergraduates The power of the method and the structural detail it provides have no doubt fueled its rapid development. 

I]ITU has been applied in clinical trials for distribution and clearance studies, [123I]ITU for the whole body imaging studies and [131I]ITU to successfully treat the Harding-Passey melanoma carried in Balb/c mice369. 

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