- June 01, 2020
A Radiologist and an Artist: Boustani Provides High Quality Medical Illustrations for Her Peers
- August 22, 2019
Yale Radiologists Advance Prostate Cancer Imaging
- August 22, 2019
Yale Radiology Medical Student Thesis Program Annual Update
- May 09, 2019
2019 Honors & Achievements
- January 23, 2019
Imaging Agent Shows Promise for Better Prostate Cancer Detection
- July 16, 2018
Yale-developed test for Alzheimer’s disease directly measures synaptic loss
Nuclear Medicine
General Information
PO Box 208042
New Haven, CT 06520-8042 Admin Assistant, Lori Raccio |
Phone:
Fax: |
203-785-5102
203-737-1241 |
The Nuclear Medicine section in the Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging is comprised of subspecialty trained physicians. The section provides comprehensive nuclear medicine imaging and therapy.
Clinical
Nuclear medicine uses organ function to image and treat many diseases. Small amounts of radioactive substances are administered to patients to map organ function and create functional or molecular images.
Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and Single-Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) are nuclear medicine techniques used to generate highly sensitive, measurable images of disease.
Examples of nuclear medicine studies include imaging for pulmonary embolism, infection, gastrointestinal bleeding, renal function, bone tumors, fractures, gallbladder diseases, Parkinson's disease, hyperparathyroidism, thyroid diseases, neuroendocrine diseases, dementia, epilepsy and many forms of cancer.
We have an active nuclear medicine therapy service, treating thyroid cancer and hyperthyroidism, as well as metastatic disease. The Nuclear Medicine Section was the first site in Connecticut to use Ra-223 therapy for bone pain palliation in patients with metastatic prostate cancer. Patients receiving treatment doses are seen by physicians in our nuclear medicine consultation clinic, where we discuss treatment effects and radiation safety precautions.
New additions to the Nuclear Medicine division include state-of-the-art PET/CT scanners for evaluation of cancer and neurologic diseases. We have 3 dedicated PET/CT scanners which provide the highest quality molecular imaging for tumor diagnosis, staging and treatment response.
The Nuclear Medicine section is at the forefront of the field of theranostics. Theranostics is the term used to describe the combination of using one radioactive agent to diagnose disease and a second radioactive drug to deliver therapy to treat tumors. We were the first site in Connecticut to utilize this technology in the imaging and treatment of neuroendocrine tumors.
Research
The section of Nuclear Medicine is actively involved in performing clinical and translational research. Some recent examples include novel PET agents for imaging and treating prostate and neuroendocrine cancers and the imaging of brain tumors. The Molecular Imaging Clinical and Translational Research Laboratory (MICTRL) was created to support the rapid growth of our involvement in this arena.
The research mission of the section is realized through collaboration with the Yale Positron Emission Tomography Center (PET Center). The PET Center provides the highest quality nuclear imaging research to aid in the diagnosis of disease and advance drug development.
Education
The Nuclear Medicine section is committed to the strong education mission embraced by the Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging. This includes daily clinical rotation teaching, multidisciplinary conferences and didactic lectures for medical students, radiology residents and nuclear radiology fellows.
The section has an ACGME accredited Nuclear Radiology Fellowship, as well as the Nuclear Radiology Pathway. Through the American Board of Radiology, the Nuclear Radiology Pathway enables diagnostic radiology residents to qualify for dual board certification in Radiology and Nuclear Medicine.
Recent Publications
2021
- Comparison of [11C]UCB-J and [18F]FDG PET in Alzheimer's disease: A tracer kinetic modeling study.Chen MK, Mecca AP, Naganawa M, Gallezot JD, Toyonaga T, Mondal J, Finnema SJ, Lin SF, O'Dell RS, McDonald JW, Michalak HR, Vander Wyk B, Nabulsi NB, Huang Y, Arnsten AF, van Dyck CH, Carson RE. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab. 2021 Mar 24; 2021 Mar 24. PMID: 33757318.
- Altered FDG Biodistribution in Subcutaneous White Fat on PET/CT Following l-Asparaginase Chemotherapy.Young CR, Kulon ME, Boustani AM, Pucar D. Clin Nucl Med. 2021 Mar 1. PMID: 33086270.
- A Phase 2/3 Prospective Multicenter Study of the Diagnostic Accuracy of Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen PET/CT with 18F-DCFPyL in Prostate Cancer Patients (OSPREY).Pienta KJ, Gorin MA, Rowe SP, Carroll PR, Pouliot F, Probst S, Saperstein L, Preston MA, Alva AS, Patnaik A, Durack JC, Stambler N, Lin T, Jensen J, Wong V, Siegel BA, Morris MJ. J Urol. 2021 Feb 26; 2021 Feb 26. PMID: 33634707.
- Diagnostic Performance of 18F-DCFPyL-PET/CT in Men with Biochemically Recurrent Prostate Cancer: Results from the CONDOR Phase 3, Multicenter Study.Morris MJ, Rowe SP, Gorin MA, Saperstein L, Pouliot F, Josephson DY, Wong JY, Pantel AR, Cho SY, Gage KL, Piert MR, Iagaru A, Pollard JH, Wong V, Jensen J, Lin T, Stambler N, Carroll P, Siegel BA. Clin Cancer Res. 2021 Feb 23; 2021 Feb 23. PMID: 33622706.
- Gallbladder Perforation Into the Peritoneal Cavity.Wang BF, Yi S, Keshavamurthy J, Williams H, Pucar D. Clin Nucl Med. 2021 Feb 1. PMID: 33031242.
- Changes in Population-Level and Institutional-Level Prescribing Habits of Radioiodine Therapy for Papillary Thyroid Cancer.Jacobs D, Breen CT, Pucar D, Holt EH, Judson BL, Mehra S. Thyroid. 2021 Feb; 2020 Sep 22. PMID: 32811347.
- Association of Aβ deposition and regional synaptic density in early Alzheimer's disease: a PET imaging study with [11C]UCB-J.O'Dell RS, Mecca AP, Chen MK, Naganawa M, Toyonaga T, Lu Y, Godek TA, Harris JE, Bartlett HH, Banks ER, Kominek VL, Zhao W, Nabulsi NB, Ropchan J, Ye Y, Vander Wyk BC, Huang Y, Arnsten AFT, Carson RE, van Dyck CH. Alzheimers Res Ther. 2021 Jan 5; 2021 Jan 5. PMID: 33402201.
- 124I-MIBG PET/CT to Monitor Metastatic Disease in Children with Relapsed Neuroblastoma.Aboian MS, Huang SY, Hernandez-Pampaloni M, Hawkins RA, VanBrocklin HF, Huh Y, Vo KT, Gustafson WC, Matthay KK, Seo Y. J Nucl Med. 2021 Jan; 2020 May 15. PMID: 32414950.
- Maximizing the use of batch production of 18F-FDOPA for imaging of brain tumors to increase availability of hybrid PET/MR imaging in clinical setting.Aboian M, Barajas R, Shatalov J, Ravanfar V, Bahroos E, Tong E, Taylor JW, Bush NO, Sneed P, Seo Y, Cha S, Hernandez-Pampaloni M. Neurooncol Pract. 2021 Feb; 2020 Oct 14. PMID: 33664973.
2020
- Intracystic Papillary Neoplasm of Gallbladder Mimicking Metastatic Malignancy on PET/CT.Ismail R, Saeed Bamashmos A, Cohen PJ, Pucar D. Clin Nucl Med. 2020 Nov 23; 2020 Nov 23. PMID: 33234941.
- Assessment of population-based input functions for Patlak imaging of whole body dynamic 18F-FDG PET.Naganawa M, Gallezot JD, Shah V, Mulnix T, Young C, Dias M, Chen MK, Smith AM, Carson RE. EJNMMI Phys. 2020 Nov 23; 2020 Nov 23. PMID: 33226522.
- Reduced synaptic vesicle protein 2A binding in temporal lobe epilepsy: A [11 C]UCB-J positron emission tomography study.Finnema SJ, Toyonaga T, Detyniecki K, Chen MK, Dias M, Wang Q, Lin SF, Naganawa M, Gallezot JD, Lu Y, Nabulsi NB, Huang Y, Spencer DD, Carson RE. Epilepsia. 2020 Oct; 2020 Sep 18. PMID: 32944949.
- Nuclear Medicine Advanced Associates: Physician Extenders in Nuclear Medicine-Now Is the Time.Owen MA, Sinotte KN, Bolus N, Siska R, Jacob J, LaRue V, Norton B, Pucar D. J Nucl Med Technol. 2020 Sep; 2020 Apr 20. PMID: 32312850.
- Binding of the synaptic vesicle radiotracer [11C]UCB-J is unchanged during functional brain activation using a visual stimulation task.Smart K, Liu H, Matuskey D, Chen MK, Torres K, Nabulsi N, Labaree D, Ropchan J, Hillmer AT, Huang Y, Carson RE. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab. 2020 Aug 5; 2020 Aug 5. PMID: 32757741.
- Inferior vena cava syndrome on skeletal scintigraphy secondary to metastatic prostate cancer.Makusha LP, Kulon M, Pucar D, Young CR. World J Nucl Med. 2020 Jul-Sep; 2020 Jul 2. PMID: 33354201.
- Rapidly lethal secondary hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis predicted by fluorodeoxyglucose positron-emission tomography/computed tomography.Makusha LP, Pucar D, Young CR. World J Nucl Med. 2020 Jul-Sep; 2020 Jul 2. PMID: 33354187.
- In vivo measurement of widespread synaptic loss in Alzheimer's disease with SV2A PET.Mecca AP, Chen MK, O'Dell RS, Naganawa M, Toyonaga T, Godek TA, Harris JE, Bartlett HH, Zhao W, Nabulsi NB, Wyk BCV, Varma P, Arnsten AFT, Huang Y, Carson RE, van Dyck CH. Alzheimers Dement. 2020 Jul; 2020 May 13. PMID: 32400950.
- 18F-Fluorodeoxyglucose PET imaging in aortic graft infection: many more questions than answers.Pucar D, Sadeghi MM. J Nucl Cardiol. 2020 Jun 30; 2020 Jun 30. PMID: 32607838.
- Nomogram Identifies Age as the Most Important Predictor of Overall Survival in Oral Cavity Squamous Cell Cancer After Primary Surgery.Gupta S, Waller J, Brown J, Elam Y, Rawson JV, Pucar D. Indian J Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2020 Jun; 2019 Aug 16. PMID: 32551272.
- Phase I study of vemurafenib in children with recurrent or progressive BRAFV600E mutant brain tumors: Pacific Pediatric Neuro-Oncology Consortium study (PNOC-002).Nicolaides T, Nazemi KJ, Crawford J, Kilburn L, Minturn J, Gajjar A, Gauvain K, Leary S, Dhall G, Aboian M, Robinson G, Long-Boyle J, Wang H, Molinaro AM, Mueller S, Prados M. Oncotarget. 2020 May 26; 2020 May 26. PMID: 32523649.