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Radioimmunotherapies (RITs) and peptide receptor radiotherapies (PRRTs) with (90)Y-labelled compounds offer promising prospects for tumor treatment in nuclear medicine. However, when preparing and performing these therapies, which require manipulations of high activities of (90)Y (>1 GBq), technicians and physicians may receive high exposures, mainly to the skin of the hands. Even non-occupationally exposed persons, such as caregivers and family members, receive external exposures in the initial period after therapy, arising from the (90)Y in the patient. The local skin doses of the individual staff members, measured during RITs and PRRTs with thermoluminescence detectors fixed with tapes to the fingers, vary considerably. The exposure of staff can exceed the annual permissible dose limit of 500 mSv if radiation protection standards are low. Thus, adequate safety measures are needed. Measurements of the dose rate around patients, made using survey meters with sufficient response to beta particles, indicate that the exposure of caregivers and family members is considerably higher than previously assumed, and was dominated by primary beta radiation instead of bremsstrahlung. Nevertheless, under normal circumstances, the annual dose limits for the public (effective dose: 1 mSv, skin dose: 50 mSv) will be complied with.

Congenital microgastria is always associated with malformations of other organs. Patients at any age presenting one of the symptoms: failure to thrive, vomiting, asplenia, midline defects and parts of the VACTERL association should be carefully examined to exclude microgastria.

KeywordsLung cancer, systematic review, FDG-PET, PET/CT, skeletal scintigraphy, somatostatin receptor scintigraphy Summary Aim: Currently, the German and Austrian S3 guidelines on the evaluation and treatment of lung cancer are about to be published whereas the American Colleague of Chest Physicians (ACCP) guidelines were already presented in 2007. An important part of the diagnostic workup of lung cancer will be the evaluation of indeterminate lung lesions and the mediastinal and extrathoracic staging using FDG-PET or PET/CT. The results from the literature on FDG-PET and PET/ CT as well as on conventional nuclear medicine staging procedures and the clinical implications are presented. Methods: The literature data was amassed in analogy to the metaanalyses drawn for the current ACCP guidelines. In addition, relevant more recent publications were also considered. To answer the important question for the extent of pathological confirmation needed, the residual risk of mediastinal metastases was calculated for certain constellations of FDG-PET and CT findings. Suggested recommendations were characterized with the level of evidence. Results: FDG-PET (PET/CT) allows the differentiation of indeterminate lung lesions with high accuracy. FDG-PET (PET/ CT) is the most accurate non-invasive procedure to assess the mediastinal nodal stage, for non-small cell as well as for small cell lung cancer. It is justified to omit invasive evaluation of enlarged but FDG-PET negative lymph nodes under certain circumstances. Unexpected extrathoracic metastases detected by FDG-PET imply important changes in therapeutic management. Conclusion: The upcoming S3 guideline on lung cancer will recommend FDG-PET in several indications due to its clinical efficacy well proven by data from literature (high level of evidence). The selected use of conventional nuclear medicine procedures remains beyond doubt. FDG-PET (PET/CT) belongs to the standard of care in lung cancer.