In view of the commercial success of integrated PET/CT scanners, there is an increasing interest in comparable SPECT/CT systems. SPECT in combination with CT enables a direct correlation of anatomic information and functional information, resulting in better localization and definition of scintigraphic findings. Besides anatomic referencing, the added value of CT coregistration is based on the attenuation correction capabilities of CT. The number of clinical studies is limited, but pilot studies have indicated a higher specificity and a significant reduction in indeterminate findings. The superiority of SPECT/CT over planar imaging or SPECT has been demonstrated in bone scintigraphy, somatostatin receptor scintigraphy, parathyroid scintigraphy, and adrenal gland scintigraphy. Also, rates of detection of sentinel nodes by biopsy can be increased with SPECT/CT. This review highlights recent technical developments in integrated SPECT/CT systems and summarizes the current literature on potential clinical uses and future directions for SPECT/CT in cardiac, neurologic, and oncologic applications.

Purpose To investigate the relationships between tumor absorbed dose (TAD) or normal tissue absorbed dose (NTAD) and clinical outcomes in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treated with yttrium-90 glass microspheres. Methods TARGET was a retrospective investigation in 13 centers across eight countries. Key inclusion criteria: liver-dominant HCC with or without portal vein thrombosis, < 10 tumors per lobe (at least one ≥ 3 cm), Child–Pugh stage A/B7, BCLC stages A–C, and no prior intra-arterial treatment. Multi-compartment pre-treatment dosimetry was performed retrospectively. Primary endpoint was the relationship between ≥ grade 3 hyperbilirubinemia (such that > 15% of patients experienced an event) without disease progression and NTAD. Secondary endpoints included relationships between (1) objective response (OR) and TAD, (2) overall survival (OS) and TAD, and (3) alpha fetoprotein (AFP) and TAD. Results No relationship was found between NTAD and ≥ grade 3 hyperbilirubinemia, which occurred in 4.8% of the 209 patients. The mRECIST OR rate over all lesions was 61.7%; for the target (largest) lesion, 70.8%. Responders and non-responders had geometric mean total perfused TADs of 225.5 Gy and 188.3 Gy (p = 0.048). Probability of OR was higher with increasing TAD (p = 0.044). Higher TAD was associated with longer OS (HR per 100 Gy increase = 0.83, 95% CI: 0.71–0.95; p = 0.009). Increased TAD was associated with higher probability of AFP response (p = 0.046 for baseline AFP ≥ 200 ng/mL). Conclusion Real-world data confirmed a significant association between TAD and OR, TAD and OS, and TAD and AFP response. No association was found between ≥ grade 3 hyperbilirubinemia and NTAD. Trial registration number NCT03295006.

Aim 68Ga-PSMA PET/CT allows for a superior detection of prostate cancer (PC) tissue, especially in context of a low tumor burden. Digital PET/CT bears the potential of reducing scan time duration / administered tracer activity due to, for instance, its higher sensitivity and improved time coincidence resolution. It might thereby expand 68Ga-PSMA PET/CT that is currently limited by 68Ge/68Ga-generator yield. Our aim was to clinically evaluate the influence of a reduced scan time duration in combination with different image reconstruction algorithms on the diagnostic performance. Methods Twenty PC patients (11 for biochemical recurrence, 5 for initial staging, 4 for metastatic disease) sequentially underwent 68Ga-PSMA PET/CT on a digital Siemens Biograph Vision. PET data were collected in continuous-bed-motion mode with a scan time duration of approximately 17 min (reference acquisition protocol) and 5 min (reduced acquisition protocol). 4 iterative reconstruction algorithms were applied using a time-of-flight (TOF) approach alone or combined with point-spread-function (PSF) correction, each with 2 or 4 iterations. To evaluate the diagnostic performance, the following metrics were chosen: (a) per-region detectability, (b) the tumor maximum and peak standardized uptake values (SUVmax and SUVpeak) and (c) image noise using the liver’s activity distribution. Results Overall, 98% of regions (91% of affected regions) were correctly classified in the reduced acquisition protocol independent of the image reconstruction algorithm. Two nodal lesions (each ≤ 4 mm) were not identified (leading to downstaging in 1/20 cases). Mean absolute percentage deviation of SUVmax (SUVpeak) was approximately 9% (6%) for each reconstruction algorithm. The mean image noise increased from 13–21% (4 iterations) and from 10–15% (2 iterations) for PSF + TOF and TOF images. Conclusions High agreement at 3.5-fold reduction of scan time in terms of per-region detection (98% of regions) and image quantification (mean deviation ≤ 10%) was demonstrated; however, small lesions can be missed in about 10% of patients leading to downstaging (T1N0M0 instead of T1N1M0) in 5% of patients. Our results suggest that a reduction of scan time duration or administered 68Ga-PSMA activities can be considered in metastatic patients, where missing small lesions would not impact patient management.

Objective To identify the attitudes of German thyroid specialists towards the clinical treatment of hypothyroidism using thyroid hormones (TH). Methods All members of the thyroid section of the German Endocrine Society (DGE) were e-mailed an invitation to participate in a web-based survey about substitution with TH. Results Out of 206 members of the DGE’s thyroid section, 163 (79.1%) responses were received and included in the analysis. Of responding members, 98.6% used levothyroxine (LT4) as the treatment of choice, and 45.4% also prescribed combination therapy with liothyronine (LT4+LT3) in their clinical practice (p<0.001). LT4+LT3 combination was favored in patients with persistent hypothyroidism symptoms despite biochemical euthyroidism on LT4 treatment (p<0.001). Of all respondents, 26.4% never indicated TH therapy for euthyroid patients (p<0.001), while the remainder would consider THs for one or more indications (62.9% for euthyroid infertile women with high anti-thyroid antibody levels (p<0.001), 7.1% in patients with severe hypercholesterolemia, as complementary treatment (p=0.007), and 57.1% in patients with simple goiter (p<0.001)). In conditions that could interfere with LT4 absorption, most respondents still preferred tablets and did not expect a significant difference when switching from one LT4 formulation to another. Conclusion For German thyroid specialists, LT4 is the treatment of choice for hypothyroidism. Combination therapy with LT4+LT3 was considered for patients with persistent symptoms. Even in conditions that could affect bioavailability, German thyroid specialists prefer LT4 tablets rather than other LT4 formulations, such as liquid or soft-gel capsules. The widespread use of thyroid hormone for non-hypothyroid conditions is not consistent with current evidence and needs further study.

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