The days of the clinical exam leading the way in evaluating Parkinson’s disease are on the way out. A better understanding of how to use imaging has led to advances in diagnosing and monitoring the condition, and may hold the key to evaluating effective treatment.

The PET Response Criteria in Solid Tumors (PERCIST), published in May 2009 in the Journal of Nuclear Medicine, were developed with a lofty goal: to shift PET from the qualitative imaging realm to a quantitative assessment of response to cancer treatment.

PET/MR is slowly carving out a space with an increasing number of major institutions across the globe taking advantage of the hybrid system for a widening range of research applications.

In a review of available PET imaging biomarkers that focus on cellular proliferation as an important key to cancer detection and therapy monitoring, F-18 FLT stood out as a game-changer for its ability to hone in on processes specific to cancer growth. However, in many studies, tracer uptake was underwhelming when compared to standard FDG, according to a scientific paper published May 14 in the Journal of Nuclear Medicine.

Developers of the first FDA-approved imaging agent for the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s, Eli Lily and Company and Avid Pharmaceuticals, held a conference call May 16 for stakeholders and members of the media to discuss the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Service's (CMS) upcoming draft decision regarding coverage for Amyvid and other beta-amyloid type diagnostic agents.

The gold standard for the detection of bone marrow invasion of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma is bone marrow biopsy. Researchers investigated a new approach with F-18 FDG PET/CT imaging to determine its efficacy and predictive value. The latter was found superior to biopsy in not only its sensitivity and accuracy, but also its ability to predict progression-free survival, according to a study published online May 14 in the Journal of Nuclear Medicine.

In an attempt to tease out the best possible technique for imaging the inflammation associated with atherosclerotic plaques, researchers peered into the cellular tangle and tested both FDG and MR imaging with ultrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxide particles (USPIO) to find out what kind of relationships were happening at the molecular level. Researchers found a complex interplay of macrophage heterogeneity and subtle genetic up and downregulation that hint at the pathology of atherosclerosis, according to a study published May 13 in the Journal of Nuclear Medicine.

Simultaneous MR/PET acquisition provides more accurate alignment of hybrid datasets than retrospective fusion of MR images and PET data, according to a study published online May 8 in Radiology.