SPECT and PET can detect the pathology of chronic joint pain due to rheumatoid arthritis when performed with agents that target antifibroblast activation protein (FAP) antibodies, according to a study presented last week during the 2014 Annual Meeting of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) in St. Louis.

Chemo and radionuclide therapy together with the addition of drugs that make patients more radiosensitive have been shown to diminish and even suppress neuroendeocrine tumors (NETs) from progressing in 70 percent of cases. As a result, peptide receptor chemo-radionuclide therapy may offer patients improved survival rates, according to a study presented at the recent Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging 2014 Annual Meeting held June 7-11 in St. Louis.

Back pain is a burden for most people at some point in their lifetime, but pinpointing the reason for the pain can be tricky. Researchers presenting during the recent Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging 2014 Annual Meeting in St. Louis have found that SPECT/CT in addition to conventional bone scan gets straight to the point of pain, leading to much higher pain relief following intervention.

Together, the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) and the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) will share details about RO-ILS: Radiation Oncology Incident Learning System, a new, national patient safety initiative to facilitate safer and higher quality radiation oncology care.

During the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) Annual Meeting, GE Healthcare introduced its Discovery IQ PET/CT system, enabling both outstanding image quality and intelligent quantitation, helping physicians deliver the best possible patient outcomes.

Lymphoseek, otherwise known as technetium Tc-99m tilmanocept, is now available for use in sentinel lymph-node mapping of patients with cases of head and neck cancer. Producer Navidea Biopharmaceuticals, based in Dublin, Ohio, held a teleconference for stakeholders yesterday to discuss the expanded approval.

NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes, based in Madison, Wis., announced a non-exclusive letter of intent yesterday with major radiopharmacy chain Triad Isotopes in an effort to provide a U.S. source of molybdenum-99 (Mo-99), which decays to produce technetium-99m (Tc-99m), used in the lion's share of nuclear medicine procedures.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved a new use for Lymphoseek (technetium 99m tilmanocept) Injection, a radioactive diagnostic imaging agent used to help doctors determine the extent a type of cancer called squamous cell carcinoma has spread in the body’s head and neck region.