Autoimmune thyroiditis (AIT) is one of the most common autoimmune diseases; genetic as well as environmental factors contribute to its pathogenesis. The thyroid is the organ with the highest selenium content per unit weight. Selenium status appears to have an impact on the development of thyroid pathologies. We investigated a possible difference of selenium serum levels as a marker of nutritional selenium supply between patients with AIT in central Lower Austria and a matched group of healthy persons living in the same region. Selenium serum levels in the patients with AIT were 98.0 ± 15.6 μg/l. A significant difference to the matched group of normal persons, whose selenium serum levels were 103.2 ± 12.4 μg/l, could not be detected by the t-test (p>0.05). We considered the serum selenium levels to be indicators of selenium supply (by alimentation). A serum level of 120-160 μg/l of selenium represents the normal range. According to this, most patients and control persons showed mild to moderate selenium deficiency (80-120 μg/l selenium). Although our data present slightly higher selenium levels in normal persons than in patients with AIT, this weak and statistically insignificant trend is not sufficient to support the conclusion of a link between inadequate selenium supply and autoimmune thyroid disease.
Thyroid malignancies are relatively rare cancer types but have a substantially high incidence in the group of all endocrine malignancies. Most thyroid cancer patients have differentiated thyroid cancer and prognosis is generally favourable. Tumour growth tends to be slow and radioiodine therapy is successful in differentiated cell tumour type with the ability to accumulate iodine. So, where can 18 F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG PET) imaging be applied? The role of FDG PET in differentiated thyroid cancer starts with the development of metastatic diseases, which are not responsive to radioiodine therapy anymore. FDG accumulates in tumour lesions that are missed by iodine scintigraphy. FDG PET is more sensitive in patients with an aggressive histological subtype, including Hürthle cell. Thyroid cancer is definitely not the role model indication for FDG PET imaging, but for the management of differentiated thyroid cancer with metastases and more aggressive types of malignancies of the thyroid, FDG PET proves to be clinically useful. Incidental detection of malignancy in FDG-avid thyroid nodules has to be taken into consideration when FDG PET examinations have been conducted for reasons unrelated to the thyroid.
Crohn's Disease (CD) is a chronic inflammatory bowel disorder which can lead to complications like fistulas, strictures and abscesses. It is difficult to differentiate between chronic fibrotic and acute inflammatory processes with current non-invasive and invasive methods. FDG-PET/CT might help to identify active inflammatory processes and morphological information via one examination. It is a case report of a 22 year old woman diagnosed with CD who experienced an abscess of the left psoas muscle after few years which had to be drained. In 2011, she again complained about left side abdominal pain. This case underlines the usefulness of a combined PET/CT study for identifying active inflammatory processes common on patients suffering from Crohn’s disease. Generally it would be optimal to combine the PET and a diagnostic quality CT-E into a single session.
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