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AIMS We previously reported that 99mTc-White blood cell (WBC) single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT/CT) could be a useful tool to assess diabetic foot osteomyelitis (DFO) remission and guide the duration of antibiotic treatment. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the performance and reproducibility of two analysis methods to diagnose DFO remission using 99mTc-WBC-SPECT/CT. METHODS 99mTc-WBC-SPECT/CT performed for patients with DFO at the end of antibiotic treatment were retrospectively read by two nuclear physicians (one senior and one junior). Assessment by conventional visual analysis and by the use of a semi-quantitative scoring system, the composite score index (CSI), was performed. The performance and reproducibility of methods were compared between the two nuclear physicians. Successful treatment of DFO was defined by the absence of DFO relapse at the same site within 1 year. RESULTS A total of 68 patients with 74 DFO were included. Three were excluded from the analysis due to the low quality of SPECT/CT; among the 71 DFO analyzed, 11 (15.5%) had a relapse during follow-up. Performances of 99mTc-WBC-SPECT/CT to predict DFO remission with conventional visual assessment were significantly lower for junior than for senior nuclear physician with moderate inter-rater agreement (Kappa: 0.417). Performances with the use of CSI were similar between the two readers with good inter-rater agreement (Kappa: 0.756). CONCLUSION The study found that conventional visual assessment of 99mTc-WBC-SPECT/CT to assess DFO remission requires experience, and supported that CSI could be useful for junior nuclear physician to discriminate residual infections and inflammatory post-treatment uptake.

To evaluate the diagnostic performance of fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose PET/computed tomography (F-FDG-PET/CT) and MRI with diffusion-weighted images (DWI) in uterine sarcomas (US).A systematic review was performed on Medline, ISI web of knowledge, and Scopus databases for studies reporting the diagnostic performance of F-FDG-PET/CT and DWI-MRI in US published up to 15 February 2016. Exclusion criteria were articles with fewer than five cases of US, without DWI-MRI, and previous series of patients from the same researcher team.Seven studies were selected for DWI-MRI and 11 for F-FDG-PET/CT. DWI-MRI was used only to characterize uterine tumors, and showed a good sensitivity but a low specificity. The apparent diffusion coefficient value seems to be the most discriminant between benign and malignant lesion. No data were available on staging and restaging.F-FDG-PET/CT improved patients' management when used for characterization, staging, and restaging because of its quite good accuracy. To date, few data exist on the prognostic role of F-FDG-PET/CT. Well-designed multicenter prospective trials are needed to establish definitively the exact role of imaging in the management of US.Both DWI-MRI and F-FDG-PET/CT have their own advantages, and should be performed in a 'one stop shop' scan in the near future by PET/MRI engines.