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Biomedical subjects

J H Thrall

Publications and source records attributed to J H Thrall.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

A prospective investigation of pulmonary embolism in women and men.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to compare, in women and men suspected of pulmonary embolism, the frequency, risk factors, diagnosis, and presentation of pulmonary embolism as well as the accuracy of the ventilation/perfusion scan (V/Q scan) as a diagnostic tool. DESIGN: Data were collected during a prospective study (the Prospective Investigation of Pulmonary Embolism Diagnosis) to establish the accuracy of the V/Q scan compared with pulmonary angiograms. SETTING: Six tertiary medical centers in Massachusetts, Michigan, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina. PARTICIPANTS: Patients suspected of pulmonary embolism for whom a request was made for a V/Q scan or pulmonary angiogram (496 women and 406 men). RESULTS: Women 50 years old and under had a decreased frequency of pulmonary embolism compared with men of that age (16% vs 32%), but there was no difference in patients over 50 years old (Breslow-Day test, P less than .01). Risk factors for pulmonary embolism, the usefulness of the V/Q scan, and 1-year mortality were not different for women and men. Estrogen use in women was not associated with an increased frequency of pulmonary embolism, except in women using oral contraceptives who had undergone surgery within 3 months; four of five (80%) had emboli compared with four of 28 (14%) age-matched surgical patients not using estrogens (P less than .01). CONCLUSION: Women 50 years old and under (even young women using oral contraceptives) who were suspected of having pulmonary emboli and were enrolled in the Prospective Investigation of Pulmonary Embolism Diagnosis study had a smaller frequency of pulmonary embolism than men of that age, The risk factors for pulmonary embolism were the same for women and men, except that women using oral contraceptives had an increased risk of pulmonary embolism following surgery. Although the V/Q scan was a useful tool in the preliminary evaluation for pulmonary embolism in these women, a pulmonary angiogram was often needed for accurate diagnosis.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Diaphyseal bone disease: scintigraphic-radiographic correlation.

Though generally nonspecific, the patterns of diaphyseal uptake of bone seeking radionuclides, when correlated with the radiographic findings and clinical histories, often suggest specific diagnoses and may obviate the need for further imaging. Diaphyseal uptake is considered in terms of "hot spots," unilateral long segment lesions and bilateral processes that may be symmetric or asymmetric in distribution. Scintigrams and corresponding radiographs of 18 different lesions are illustrated.

Bone Diseases↗
PubMed1989

Standards of radiology practice: an approach to development.

Assessment and accountability will be issues shaping the health care system in the United States during the next decade. Qualitative and, more important, quantitative information will be essential elements in the process. This information will need to be viewed in the light of the expectations of radiologists. These expectations may be referred to as guidelines, standards, or practice parameters. If radiologists wish to be active participants in the process rather than passive observers, they need to develop their own standards of practice. For the development of standards, the authors propose a unifying approach based on the concept of components of radiology service and the service as a whole. The concept provides a flexible framework for building a list of standards. This list may be shortened or expanded in response to available resources and changing practice patterns.

Humans↗
PubMed1988

The appended curve technique for deconvolutional analysis--method and validation.

Deconvolutional analysis (DCA) is useful in correction of organ time activity curves (response function) for variations in blood activity (input function). Despite enthusiastic reports of applications of DCA in renal and cardiac scintigraphy, routine use has awaited an easily implemented algorithm which is insensitive to statistical noise. The matrix method suffers from the propagation of errors in early data points through the entire curve. Curve fitting or constraint methods require prior knowledge of the expected form of the results. DCA by Fourier transforms (FT) is less influenced by single data points but often suffers from high frequency artifacts which result from the abrupt termination of data acquisition at a nonzero value. To reduce this artifact, we extend the input (i) and response curves to three to five times the initial period of data acquisition (P) by appending a smooth low frequency curve with a gradual taper to zero. Satisfactory results have been obtained using a half cosine curve of length 2-3P. The FTs of the input and response I and R, are computed and R/I determined. The inverse FT is performed and the curve segment corresponding to the initial period of acquisition (P) is retained. We have validated this technique in a dog model by comparing the mean renal transit times of 131I-iodohippuran by direct renal artery injection to that calculated by deconvolution of an intravenous injection. The correlation was excellent (r = 0.97, P less than 0.005). The extension of the data curves by appending a low frequency "tail" before DCA reduces the data termination artifact. This method is rapid, simple, and easily implemented on a microcomputer.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗
PubMed1988

Treatment of massive acute pulmonary embolism. The use of low doses of intrapulmonary arterial streptokinase combined with full doses of systemic heparin.

The efficacy of low-dose, locally administered streptokinase (SK) combined with full therapeutic systemic doses of heparin was investigated. Seven patients with angiographically proven massive acute pulmonary embolism were treated. Streptokinase, 10,000-20,000 units/hour, was administered directly into the left or right pulmonary artery for 9 to 24 hours. Heparin was administered concurrently. The number of unperfused segments of the infused lung shown on the lung scan decreased from 5 +/- 2 to 2 +/- 1 after 12-24 hours (p less than .01). No change was shown in the contralateral lung. The angiographic index of severity score in the infused lung decreased from 16 +/- 1 to 9 +/- 4 (p less than .01). The partial pressure of oxygen in arterial blood improved within four hours. In spite of the low doses of streptokinase, however, two major bleeding episodes occurred that required blood transfusion. In conclusion, low dose intrapulmonary streptokinase, combined with intravenous heparin, may provide a therapeutic option in patients with life-threatening massive acute pulmonary embolism in whom full dose lytic therapy may be hazardous, although even low dose lytic therapy was associated with risk.

Aged↗
PubMed1987

Eigenimage filtration of intravenous digital subtraction angiograms of the heart. Work in progress.

The authors developed a postprocessing technique, eigenimage filtering, to extract phase-dependent information from digital subtraction angiograms of the heart. This technique suppresses the interference from the right ventricle and left atrium and produces an image of the left ventricle and aorta that is substantially free of these overlap artifacts. The resultant eigenimages of the heart appear more like conventional ventriculograms than do digital subtraction angiograms and matched filtered images.

Cardiac Catheterization↗
PubMed1987

Skeletal metastases.

This article discusses the role of imaging in the evaluation of patients with known or suspected malignancies. The radionuclide skeletal scintigram is the most sensitive imaging method for screening the skeleton for metastatic disease but is inherently nonspecific. Standard radiography provides useful correlative information and often confirms the presence of malignancy when characteristic lytic or blastic lesions are seen. Newer modalities such as CT and MR do not have a primary role in detecting skeletal metastases but may reveal lesions incidentally.

Bone Neoplasms↗
PubMed1986

Tumor blood flow and systemic shunting in patients receiving intraarterial chemotherapy for head and neck cancer.

Radionuclide techniques have been used to estimate the systemic shunt and to quantitate blood flow to the tumor and a reference normal tissue in nine patients undergoing intraarterial chemotherapy for head and neck cancer. The systemic shunt was calculated as the percentage of pulmonary trapping of intraarterially injected 99mTc-labeled macroaggregated albumin. The mean systemic shunt in the 12 separate arteries studied was 23 +/- 13% (SE) (range 8-43%). Quantitative blood flow was determined from the slope of the washout curve of intraarterially injected 133Xe. The mean tumor blood flow was 13.6 +/- 6.7 ml/100 g/min, while the mean blood flow to the scalp was 4.2 +/- 2.1 ml/100 g/min providing a mean tumor/normal tissue ratio of 3.9 +/- 2.7. An estimate of blood flow distribution was obtained by calculating the ratio of counts/pixel in the tumor mass versus the remainder of the head as determined by single photon emission computed tomography following an intraarterial injection of 99mTc-labeled macroaggregated albumin. The mean ratio of tumor to normal tissue perfusion by this technique was 5.6 +/- 3.7. These techniques have allowed noninvasive determination of the blood flow parameters associated with intraarterial chemotherapy. At least part of the therapeutic advantage of regional chemotherapy in patients with head and neck cancer is due to a tumor/normal tissue blood flow ratio that favors drug delivery to the tumor contained within the infused volume.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Evaluation of intravascular low-osmolality contrast agents.

The chemistry of low-osmolality contrast agents is reviewed, the effects of these agents on vascular and organ physiology are compared with the effects of conventional ionic contrast media, and guidelines for intravascular use of the low-osmolality agents in selected high-risk patients are presented. Three low-osmolality contrast agents, the nonionic media iohexol (Omnipaque, Winthrop-Breon) and iopamidol (Isovue, Squibb) and the dimeric medium ioxaglate meglumine-sodium (Hexabrix, Mallinckrodt) have recently been introduced into the contrast-media market. Compared with conventional ionic contrast media, these new agents demonstrate approximately one third of the osmolality per given iodine concentration (degree of roentgenographic opacification). Therefore, the risks of hyperosmolarity-induced reactions to contrast media are lower with the new agents. The low-osmolality agents may be associated with a reduced incidence of contrast-media-induced hypersensitivity reactions. Because of their lower osmolality, these agents produce less vessel dilation, vascular endothelial damage, and associated pain and discomfort than equi-iodine concentrations of the conventional ionic media. They also demonstrate a reduction in the incidence and severity of contrast-media-induced renal vasoconstriction and proteinuria, hemodynamic alterations, negative chronotropic effects, depression of myocardial contractility, and neurotoxicity in the presence of an altered blood-brain barrier. These low-osmolality agents produce fewer undesirable physiological effects than conventional contrast agents, but the cost of the new products can be more than 10 times as great. Therefore, the new products should be used selectively in patients known to be at increased risk for reactions to intravascular contrast media. A scoring system was developed to permit rapid recognition of documented single or multiple risk factors and subsequent determination of whether to administer a low-osmolality agent.

Blood Circulation↗
PubMed1985

Scintigraphic characterization of amyloid cardiomyopathy.

Amyloidosis is an important entity in the differential diagnosis of cardiac failure of undetermined etiology. In this case report, the typical pattern of combined systolic and diastolic impairment in amyloid cardiomyopathy was demonstrated by analysis of the cardiac blood pool study. In addition, the patient described had mild uptake of Ga-67 citrate, as well as the characteristically intense myocardial uptake of Tc-99m pyrophosphate. Scintigraphic assessment may be particularly helpful when the diagnosis of amyloidosis is being considered in a patient with unexplained cardiac failure.

Aged↗
PubMed1985

Atlas of hepatic arterial perfusion scintigraphy.

Tc-99m MAA intra-arterial perfusion studies are necessary to determine blood flow distribution for hepatic arterial chemotherapy. In this mini-atlas, examples selected from over 900 cases to illustrate important points to aid in a better understanding and interpretation of these studies with particular emphasis on diagnostic and therapeutic interventions are presented.

Humans↗
PubMed1985

The use of a vasoconstrictor to improve tumour blood flow in intra-arterial chemotherapy: preliminary report.

The effectiveness of intra-arterial chemotherapy is dependent on a high tumour to normal blood flow ratio (T/NT). This report demonstrates the use of a vasoconstrictor (NE) to improve the relative blood flow to head and neck tumours by causing vasoconstriction and decreased blood flow to normal soft tissue. Five quantitative planar Tc-MAA perfusion studies were performed on three patients with increasing dose rates of norepinephrine (NE) to determine the optimal dose in each patient that would produce the best T/NT. All patients demonstrated a change in perfusion pattern with increasing dose rates (0.1 to 15 micrograms min-1), although there was considerable variation between patients. Quantitative SPECT was performed on two patients. In one, there was a 35% increase in the T/NT and a 16% decrease in arteriovenous (A-V) shunting to the lung.

Antineoplastic Agents↗
PubMed1985

The utility of SPECT for 99mTc-MAA hepatic arterial perfusion scintigraphy.

The utility of single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) for hepatic arterial perfusion scintigraphy was evaluated in 86 patients (91 studies). Previous reports have shown planar studies to be valuable for the clinical management of patients receiving intraarterial chemotherapy and more reliable than angiography in determining blood flow distribution. However, overlying areas of intra- and extrahepatic perfusion can sometimes make interpretation of these two-dimensional images difficult. Since SPECT has the potential to depict the three-dimensional distribution of perfusion, separate out overlying activity, and improve contrast resolution, SPECT Tc-MAA perfusion studies were compared to planar studies. Planar and SPECT studies both demonstrated the extent of hepatic and tumor perfusion, although occasionally SPECT added additional information. SPECT was most useful in confirming or excluding extrahepatic perfusion that was suspected but not definite on planar studies. Extrahepatic abdominal perfusion was found to be present in 11 (12%) of 91 studies. All patients with confirmed extrahepatic perfusion who received intraarterial chemotherapy had symptoms of drug toxicity compared to only a 23% incidence in those without evidence of extrahepatic perfusion (p less than 0.001). This report demonstrates that SPECT can improve the qualitative interpretation of hepatic arterial perfusion studies.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Bid purchasing of radiopharmaceuticals and radiopaque contrast media.

Use of product standardization and competitive-bid purchasing for radiopharmaceuticals and radiopaque contrast media in a 1000-bed teaching hospital is described. The hospital's use of radiopharmaceuticals was reviewed, and all agents were listed with their product specifications and order quantity or frequency. Manufacturers and wholesalers were asked to submit unit prices for each of their products. Similar procedures were followed for radiopaque contrast media; wholesalers and manufacturers were asked to submit unit prices that would be guaranteed for a 12-month contract period. A nuclear pharmacist and radiologists reviewed the submitted bids and awarded contracts, basing their decisions primarily on product acceptability and selection criteria and then on relative costs of the agents. Annual costs were reduced 16% ($16,500) for radiopharmaceuticals and 21.3% ($66,500) for radiopaque contrast media. The program also resulted in decreased inventory of radiopaque contrast media and in faster and less expensive acquisition of emergency orders. Working with the radiology department to compile a standard list of radiopharmaceuticals and radiopaque contrast media and soliciting competitive bids by vendors of these products resulted in annual savings of more than $83,000.

Contract Services↗