The use of fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography allowed researchers to successfully identify clinical signs of inflammation in patients with polymyositis and dermatomyositis, according to recently published data. {read more here}

By the time retired Chicago Bears star Dave Duerson took his own life in February of 2011, he’d spent months complaining about headaches, blurred vision, and deteriorating memory. The last line of his suicide note read, “Please, see that my brain is given to the NFL’s brain bank.” He then shot himself in the chest, presumably to keep his brain sufficiently in tact for future study. {read more here}

The ability of FDG-PET/MRI to detail morphology and assess malignancy makes it a “powerful tool” for the diagnostic workup of cardiac tumors, but it should be used judiciously because of its high cost and limited availability, according to a new study from Germany in the February Journal of Nuclear Medicine. {read more here}

By injecting the amino acid glutamine that’s been tagged with a tracer compound into patients with brain cancer, scientists have devised a technique that might enable doctors to spot growth of such tumors with high accuracy. {read more here}