I would like to announce the newest issue of “Nuclear Medicine Review”. The chapter “Original articles” opens with the paper written by Polish colleagues who used a single intramuscular injection of a very low dose (0.03 mg) of recombinant human thyrotropin (rhTSH) which turned increasing the degree and homogeneity of radioactive iodine uptake in large multi-nodular goiter, both euthyroid and subclinically hyperthyroid. The authors concluded that administration of rhTSH before I-131 seems to be an optimal method of management which may increase the effectiveness of radioiodine treatment and decrease the exposure of the patients to absorbed doses of ionizing radiation. The second paper from Czech Republic concerned the verification of the 99mTc-DMSA planar scintigraphy accuracy for separate renal function assessment compared with an evaluation based on SPECT imaging with or without CT attenuation correction. The next two articles are written by Bulgarian scientists. The first one shows for the first time that the determining of the levels of free thyroxine (FT4) in the needle washout after fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) could be useful in the diagnosis of the hyperfunctioning thyroid nodules. The second one evaluated the ability of dual-time-point PET/CT to enhance sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive and negative predicting value of 18FDG PET/CT in high grade and low grade sarcomas.

Two review articles come from Poland. Their authors elucidate the utility of 18F-FDG PET/CT in diagnosis and management of vascular diseases and the development history of PET/MR scanners, the principle of their functioning, and their usefulness in oncological and non-oncological diagnostics.

In this issue of Nuclear Medicine Review there are four interesting clinical cases discussed. The authors from Iran described their first patient with Merkel Cell Carcinoma who underwent successful sentinel node mapping. The next three clinical cases were presented by Polish physicians. The first one considers difficulties in diagnosis of parathyroid cancer. The second one demonstrates that nuclear medicine may be a valuable adjunct as it yields functional information and often provides reliable diagnosis before any radiologic abnormalities occur in patients with blunt chest trauma. And the third one describes the problems of diagnostic assessment in advanced pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasm.

In the end of my letter I would like to proudly inform you that the Polish Ministry of Science and High Education score of our journal has increased (from 7 to 12 points). We do our best to get the Impact Factor. Please note that the most important thing is the number of citations from the articles from Nuclear Medicine Review, especially those published during last two years.

And in the very end I wish you a Happy New Year!

Yours

Grzegorz Kamiński

Editor-in-Chief

Nuclear Medicine Review