Radioisotope scanning

Kuhl, D.E. and Edwards, R.Q. Cylindrical and section radioisotope scanning of the fiver and brain. Radiology 83 926-936, 1964. 

Rampon S, Bussiere JL, Prin P, Sauvezie B, Leroy V, Missioux D et al (1974) 250 studies of bone radioisotope scanning by tin pyrophosphate labeled with technetium 99m. Analytical and clinical study. Rev Rhum Mai Osteoartic 4 745-751... 

Thyroid hormone is sometimes used to suppress growth in patients with a benign solitary thyroid nodule and a normal TSH, but such therapy generally is not recommended. Suppression therapy is of no value if the nodule is autonomous, as indicated by a subnormal TSH. Once TSH is suppressed, a radioisotope scan should be performed if significant uptake persists, the gland is non-suppressible and L-T,i therapy should be discontinued. Suppression therapy should not be used in patients with known coronary artery disease, since the risks of precipitating cardiac arrhythmias or angina are considerable. 

The rate of incorporation and discharge of radioactively labeled substances in the body provides a measure of the metabolism of healthy and of sick tissues. On medical patients this information is obtained by external measurements referred to as radioisotope scanning (RIS). Such scanning can yield information about a medical disorder much before it is observed by other means. Since the amount of radioactive tracer is very small, this technique is referred to as non-invasive. In hospitals the department of nuclear medicine is normally responsible for these investigations. 

In 1948, Robert Reid Newell of Stanford University proposed that the name be changed to nuclear medicine. Radiologists, including David Kuhl and Merrill Bender, played an important role in the early days of nuclear medicine, so there was an emphasis on body structure. Radioisotope scanning was defined as visualizing organs and lesions not visible on conventional x-rays. 

Radioisotope scanning was used in the early days to detect filling defects in organs, such as the liver and spleen. Radioactive sodium iodide was used to image the thyroid. Radioactive particles were used to image the reticuloendothelial system. The dye, radio-iodinated Rose Bengal, was used to image the liver. 

Molecular imaging as the foundation of diagnosis is not new. Half a century ago, imaging the rate of accumulation of radioactive sodium iodide by the thyroid was the first example of molecular imaging, although it was called radioisotope scanning. 

In the early days of radioisotope scanning, scans were always superimposed over radiographs taken at the same time in the nuclear medicine department. Fiducial markers were used to superimpose anatomy and radionuclide distributions accurately. 

Kuhl DE, Edwards RQ (1963) Image separation radioisotope scanning. Radiology 80 653-662... 

Abnormal aggregations of misfolded protein molecules stainable with the fluorescence Congo red method of Askanas [90], or more simply but less inclusively with crystal violet, are called "amyloid." The amyloid in skeletal mnsde tissue can be (a) extracellular, usually in mnsde connective tissue regions or in blood-vessel walls, including blood vessels of peripheral nerves or (b) intracellular (within muscle fibers) of s-IBM (see Chapters 7 and 10). Musde extracellular amyloid is often composed of the variable portion of an immunoglobulin light chain, or mutant transthyretin, but sometimes other proteins are involved primarily or secondarily. (Extracellular amyloid can be clinically identified, noninvasively, by Mibi radioisotope scanning [91]). We have previously postulated that cyto-disturbance... 

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