title: Radionuclide evaluation of the lower gastrointestinal tract.
abstract: This review outlines the technical aspects and diagnostic performance parameters of nuclear medicine procedures used on patients with disorders of the lower gastrointestinal tract, with the exclusion of techniques using tumor-seeking radiopharmaceuticals. Chronic disorders of the lower gastrointestinal tract often reduce the quality of life because of discomfort from constipation or diarrhea. Five classes of radionuclide procedures are used to characterize these disorders: transit scintigraphy, searches for ectopic gastric mucosa in Meckel's diverticulum, scintigraphy of active inflammatory bowel disease, scintigraphic defecography, and scintigraphy to detect sites of gastrointestinal bleeding. Protocols for these procedures and their relative merit in patient management are discussed, with special emphasis on their potential for semiquantitative assessment of the pathophysiologic parameter investigated. Quantitation is particularly relevant for prognostic purposes and for monitoring the efficacy of therapy.
authors.affiliation: Regional Center of Nuclear Medicine, University of Pisa Medical School, Pisa, Italy. g.mariani@med.unipi.it
authors.forename: Giuliano
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mariani
authors.forename: Ernest K J
authors.initials: EK
authors.lastname: Pauwels
authors.forename: Abedallatif
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: AlSharif
authors.forename: Santino
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Marchi
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Boni
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Barreca
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bellini
authors.forename: Mariano
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Grosso
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: de Bortoli
authors.forename: Gloria
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mumolo
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.forename: Domenico
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rubello
authors.forename: H William
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Strauss
mesh_terms: D003248:Constipation / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D019841:Defecography; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D006470:Hemorrhage / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D041741:Lower Gastrointestinal Tract / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology*; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging / Q000379:methods*