The study advises technologists to instruct the patients to minimize muscle activity during the uptake phase and to telephone patients ahead of their appointments to advise them to refrain from any excessive muscle activity at least 48 hours before a PET scan. The study's findings emphasize that the accuracy of studies for patients can be improved through educating technologists of the relationship between muscle activity and uptake and in coordinating a team approach with physicians, said Schlarman. "Technologists play a major role in informing physicians of patients' activity" that could skew the reading of their PET scans, Osman said. "Any unexpected or unexplained excessive muscle uptake should initiate communications between technologists and reading physicians to avoid false-positive PET scan interpretations," he added.

The team of technologist and physician researchers in St. Louis--all SNM or SNM Technologist Section members--studied the whole-body PET scans of more than 1,100 cancer patients over a one-year period. Of those patients, nearly 13 percent had excessively increased muscle uptake on the PET scan that matched technologists' notes of muscle activity during the uptake phase or prior to scanning. Increased uptake was seen in individuals' head and neck, thorax and upper extremities, indicating the influence of activities such as raising one's head while on a stretcher, writing or turning the pages of a book, shoveling snow or pushing a wheelchair.


In addition to Osman and Schlarman, authors of "Prevalence and Patterns of Physiologic Muscle Uptake Detected with Whole-Body 18F-FDG PET" include Ryan S. Jackson, B.S., division of nuclear medicine, department of internal medicine, School of Medicine, St. Louis University, St. Louis, Mo., and William L. Hubble, MHA, department of nuclear medicine technology, College of Health Sciences, St. Louis University, St. Louis, Mo.

About SNM
SNM is an international scientific and professional organization of more than 16,000 members dedicated to promoting the science, technology and practical applications of molecular and nuclear imaging to diagnose, manage and treat diseases in women, men and children. Founded more than 50 years ago, SNM continues to train physicians, technologists, scientists, physicists, chemists and radiopharmacists in state-of-the-art imaging procedures and advances; provide essential resources for health care practitioners and patients; publish the most prominent peer-reviewed resource in the field; sponsor research grants, fellowships and awards; and host the premier annual meeting for medical imaging. SNM members have introduced--and continue to explore--biological and technological innovations in medicine that noninvasively investigate the molecular basis of diseases, benefiting countless generations of patients. SNM is based in Reston, Va.; additional information can be found online at http://www.snm.org.

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