FIZ , Francesco

Background and aims: Atherosclerosis is a vessel disease, having a relatively early onset and a slow progression, and is currently the first cause for morbidity and mortality worldwide. Patients with atherosclerosis are usually classified according to their cardiovascular risk; however, tools to characterize the atherosclerotic plaque or to...

Despite their relevance in clinical medicine, the extension and activity of the bone marrow (BM) cannot be directly evaluated in vivo. We propose a new method to estimate these variables by combining structural and functional maps provided by CT and PET.

Mechanisms of hematopoietic reconstitution after bone marrow (BM) transplantation remain largely unknown. We applied a computational quantification software application to hybrid 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) images to assess activity and distribution of the hematopoietic system throughout...

Aim: Despite its enormous relevance, homing of hematopoietic stem cells (SCs) remains relatively uncertain due to the limitations of measuring small number of systemically administered cells in the different organs. Despite its high sensitivity, radionuclide detection has been relatively underutilized to this purpose since it cannot...

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Background and Aims: 18F Natrium Fluoride (NaF) has been proposed as a clinical tool to identify and quantify ongoing arterial calcification. Estimation of NaF uptake by vessel walls is feasible in the majority of large vessels; it is conversely more challenging within the coronary tree, given the small size of these vessels and the artifacts...

Several studies have highlighted the role of vascular (18)F-NaF uptake as a marker of ongoing calcium deposition. However, accumulation of (18)F-NaF is often inconsistent with localization of arterial plaque. Calcification activity and thus (18)F-NaF uptake might prevail in the earlier plaque stages. To test this hypothesis, we evaluated...

Purpose: To identify both clinical and FDG PET/CT-derived factors predicting the occurrence of relapse, or conversely, the likelihood of false positive findings in surveillance FDG-PET/CT studies (PETsv). Methods: The study included 149 asymptomatic patients with Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) (n = 55) or diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) (n =...

Background: The close connection between neuronal activity and glucose consumption accounts for the clinical value of 18F-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose (FDG) imaging in neurodegenerative disorders. Nevertheless, brain metabolic response to starvation (STS) might hamper the diagnostic accuracy of FDG PET/CT when the cognitive impairment results in a...

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