BACKGROUND Treatment-refractory visceral leishmaniasis (VL) has become an important problem in many countries. OBJECTIVES We evaluated the antimony-resistance mechanisms of Leishmania infantum isolated from VL patients refractory or responsive to treatment with pentavalent antimony. METHODS Strains isolated from antimony-refractory patients (in vitro antimony-resistant isolates) and antimony-re...

IMPORTANCE Sentinel lymph node biopsy has been proposed as an alternative to up-front elective neck dissection (END) for determination of pathologic nodal status in patients undergoing surgical treatment for oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) with clinically negative neck (cN0). Sentinel lymph node biopsy using current standard tracer agents and imaging adjuncts such as radiolabeled sul...

A 23 year old Hispanic female with no medical history was evaluated as a potential living related renal transplant donor. CT of the abdomen showed a 1.0 x 1.2 x 1.1 cm nodule that appeared to be exophytic from the wall of a small bowel loop (Figs. 1, 2, white arrows). The nodule was enhancing with enhancement characteristics separate from the spleen and was suggestive for a neuroendocrine tumor...

BACKGROUND Differentiated thyroid cancers (DTC) often form metastases in neck lymph nodes, lungs and bones. Other metastases--to the brain, kidneys, skin and liver are rare. Liver metastases of DTC occur in the terminal phase of the disease and predominantly do not accumulate radioiodine. Functional (accumulating radioiodine) metastases are very rare. MATERIAL AND METHODS In an 85 year old pa...

Ultrasound scanning and 99mTc sulphur colloid scintigraphy are widely used in the diagnosis of the Budd-Chiari syndrome and have been compared at the time of presentation in 18 patients in whom the diagnosis was subsequently confirmed by histology and hepatic venography. Ultrasound was diagnostic in 16 (87%). The findings seen most often included hepatic vein abnormalities, caudate lobe hypertr...

Introduction: Previous mastectomy remains a contraindication to SLNB as normal drainage patterns of the breast can be disturbed. Patients diagnosed with DCIS on core biopsy and later found to have microinvasive or invasive carcinoma at the time of mastectomy are deprived of the opportunity for SLNB and need to undergo axillary dissection. We explored the option and feasibility of performing SLN...

We report a successful treatment result in a rare case of hepatitis C virus-related cirrhosis, who had sustained hydrothorax after blunt thoracoabdominal trauma. This was a female patient with liver cirrhosis, Child-Turcotte-Pugh class A, without ascites before injury. She sustained blunt thoracoabdominal trauma with a left clavicle fracture dislocation and right rib fractures. There was no hem...

We characterized the bronchopulmonary distribution of a 0.9 percent saline aerosol (1.12 microM) labelled with 99mTc sulfur colloid in nine normal subjects and five patients with CF. Homogeneity of distribution was quantified using indices derived from computerized analysis of Anger camera pulmonary images including skew (a measure of distribution asymmetry) and kurtosis (a measure of distribut...

In a double blind crossover comparison with placebo, the effects of cisapride (10 mg tid for two weeks), a non-antidopaminergic gastrointestinal prokinetic drug, on gastric emptying times and on symptoms were evaluated in 12 patients with chronic idiopathic dyspepsia and gastroparesis. Gastric emptying was studied by a radioisotopic gamma camera technique. The test meal was labelled in the soli...

Introduction: Nuclear medicine techniques have been widely employed in the assessment of gastroesophageal dysfunction. Gastroesophageal reflux (GER) is a common, self-limited process in infants and children that usually resolves at 12 to 18 months of age. Clinical management of GER includes conservative treatment, thickened feedings, positional therapy and parental reassurance. On the other han...