Endocrine Abstracts

Positron emission tomography (PET) is an imaging technique that enables direct observation of tissue radioactivity concentration over time in vivo. Unlimited number of natural substrates (e.g. glucose, fatty acid), substrate analogs can be labelled for use with PET. PET combined with tracer kinetic models measures blood flow, membrane transport, metabolism, ligand receptor interactions and recently also gene expression noninvasively and quantitatively.An...

The clinical diagnostic examination of patients and the research-oriented investigation of the pathophysiology of skeletal disorders require imaging techniques that allow to visualize the skeleton at different scales: from the organ level to tissue, cellular, and subcellular levels, depicting morphology and function. Progress in the field of imaging technologies resulted in methods suited for clinical investigation of patients in vivo, non-invasive methods for preclinical anim...

Neuroendocrine tumors (NET) comprise a wide variety of neoplasms that have certain characteristics in common. However, they are defined not by site but by molecular characteristics. The most common forms arise in the gastrointestinal tract, but there are NET which are not directly related to this site, such as medullary cell carcinoma or small-cell lung cancer. Different secretory syndromes have also resulted in certain subtypes receiving names as carcinoid if they produce ser...

Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (NET) have always represented a complex dilemma for diagnostic imaging. This is mainly due to their small size and brought during the years to a complex range of diagnostic proposals. A correct preoperative detection and staging are mandatory in order to choose management options and to optimize surgical treatment. Endoscopic Ultrasound (EUS) has been claimed to be the best technique for imaging the pancreas, it allows.Hi...