[Presence of Nuclear Medicine in the Spanish journals of Internal Medicine and other specialties (2000-2009)]. / Presencia de la Medicina Nuclear en revistas españolas de Medicina Interna y de otras especialidades (2000-2009).

OBJECTIVE: This article aims to provide a quantitative and qualitative description of the publications on Nuclear Medicine (NM) in journals from other disciplines, between 2000 and 2009. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A retrospective descriptive study was carried out including the years 2000-2009 in three internal medicine journals (IM) and in three related specialty journals (RS). The criteria used are that some of the authors were located professionally in a Service, Unit or Central MN and/or that the title of the article or at least its content made a reference to some specific aspect of NM. Date of publication, the magazine section, thematic, data of the authors, province and referral hospital were collected. RESULTS: A total of 186 articles were found, 81 in IM journals and 105 in RS. The IM journal articles came from 43 different hospitals. Vall d'Hebron (Barcelona, Spain) was the hospital with the largest volume. Twenty-four provinces were identified, Barcelona and Madrid standing out among them with 20 and 17 articles, respectively. In the RS journals, 59 hospitals/centers had participated, Vall d'Hebron standing out with 51 articles. There were 9 foreign articles. The articles were distributed into 19 provinces, Barcelona and Madrid standing out with 32 papers and 20 papers, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: There are at least twice as many articles in the RS Journals than in the IM ones. «Original¼ articles are the most frequent. The Clinical and Translational Oncology journal in RS and Medicina Clínica in IM stand out with the highest number of articles. No specific topic prevailed.

[Confirmation of cortical lesions of progressive prosopagnosia by cerebral SPECT]. / Confirmación de lesiones corticales de la prosopagnosia progresiva mediante la SPECT cerebral.

We present the case of a 78 year old man admitted to the hospital with progressive memory disorder. Neuropsychological examination showed inability to recognize familiar faces (prosopagnosia). MRI documented cortical atrophy, which did not explain the neurological deficit. CT did not show abnormalities. Most patients with prosopagnosia present brain atrophy, as they are more than 65 years old. Scanning by SPECT revealed hypoperfusion in the right parietotemporal region, which was worse in a later examination.

[When should a brain scan with HMPAO be performed to diagnose brain death?]. / ¿Cuando realizar una gammagrafía cerebral con HMPAO en el diagnóstico de muerte encefálica?

INTRODUCTION: Current Spanish law defines the criteria to be met in the case of brain death (BD) and the complementary tests to confirm it, although they do not always need to be carried out. In Spain one of the most frequently used methods is the electroencephalogram (EEG), which has its shortcomings in patients who are under sedation with barbiturates. Transcranial Doppler (TCD) offers a number of advantages in the diagnosis of BD, but it also has certain limitations. In these cases, a cerebral perfusion scan (CPS) with HMPAO can be very useful. CASE REPORTS: We describe the case of two patients who were admitted to the Intensive Care Unit with serious traumatic brain injuries. Progress was unfavourable and the findings of the clinical exploration were compatible with BD. Since we were dealing with patients under barbiturate therapy, the EEGs were complex and difficult to interpret. TCD was difficult to perform in both cases because of loss of brain matter and displacement of intracranial structures, respectively. CPS, however, allowed us to confirm the diagnosis of BD. CONCLUSION: Although it has obvious advantages, TCD cannot always be performed to confirm BD diagnosis. In these cases, CPS can be an extremely valuable tool