title: Nuclear medicine imaging of inflammatory/infective disorders of the abdomen.
abstract: Different nuclear medicine modalities are currently used to study inflammatory and infective disorders of the abdomen. They are usually complementary to radiology and endoscopy, but they play a pivotal role in particular clinical situations. Several radiopharmaceuticals (e.g., 111In or 99mTc labelled white blood cells, monoclonal antibodies, human polyclonal immunoglobulins, 75Ga citrate) are commercially available, but they can not be used indifferently to study abdominal inflammatory disorders. The lack of comparative studies showing the accuracy of each radiopharmaceutical for the study of inflammatory/infective abdominal diseases does not allow the best nuclear medicine technique(s) to be chosen in an evidence-based manner. To this end we performed a meta-analysis of peer reviewed articles published between 1984 and 2004 describing the use of nuclear medicine imaging for the study of inflammatory bowel disorders, appendicitis and vascular graft infections. A guideline for the optimal radiopharmaceutical(s) to be used in each clinical condition and for different aims is provided.
authors.affiliation: Nuclear Medicine, II Faculty of Medicine, University "La Sapienza", Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Alessio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Annovazzi
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bagni
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Burroni
authors.forename: Calogero
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: D'Alessandria
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Signore
mesh_terms: D000005:Abdomen / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D001064:Appendicitis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000453:epidemiology; D001807:Blood Vessel Prosthesis; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D015897:Comorbidity; D006801:Humans; D015212:Inflammatory Bowel Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000453:epidemiology; D009683:Nuclear Medicine / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D016459:Prosthesis-Related Infections / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000453:epidemiology; D011868:Radioisotopes; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014657:Vasculitis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D011868:Radioisotopes