Hybrid PET/CT and SPECT/CT Imaging: a teaching file is a book plus CD-ROM combination recently published by Springer. This new volume is a hallmark of education for radiologists, nuclear physicians and general physicians. Clinical cases are accurately presented with exhaustive imaging findings as well as medical history, differential diagnosis, final diagnosis and discussion to illustrate common clinical situations in the everyday hospital scenario.

The volume's editors and authors have succeeded admirably in presenting the technical concepts of hybrid imaging with clear descriptions for both radiologists and clinicians, who are provided with an efficient guide to a complex discipline. The idea of including a detailed preface to each chapter, for example regarding the staging, monitoring, diagnosis and treatment of each pathology, is an example of a broad vision and contributes to the completeness of this book.

Expanded chapters describe the history and principles of hybrid imaging and give an accurate description of instrumentation, acquisition parameters and specific imaging parameters (e.g. image reconstruction, filters, attenuation correction) for both PET and SPECT modalities. Normal distribution, pitfalls and artifacts of SPECT/PET-CT imaging tracers are also presented to help nuclear physicians and clinicians interpret images and differentiate physiological and pathological conditions. Hybrid imaging of each anatomical area (head and neck, lung, breast, gastrointestinal system, hepatobiliary system, gynecological organs, endocrine system, bones) is presented in a standard fashion: first, the clinical scenario (screening and diagnosis); then, guidelines and recommendations for the use of tracers; and, finally, comprehensive case presentations. Each case includes a brief clinical history (age, previous operation, onset of symptoms, clinical status), image findings, discussion and diagnosis with the most frequent differential diagnosis.

One chapter is dedicated to cardiac hybrid imaging. The authors of this chapter correctly emphasized the rapid growth of SPECT/PET-CT imaging in the field of nuclear cardiology and described the potential applications, strengths and limitations of hybrid imaging, focusing in particular on the use of these technique to detect and quantify coronary artery disease. Comparison and integration between perfusion and morphological findings are well demonstrated in the case presentation sections.
Another chapter is dedicated to infections and inflammatory diseases. The authors stress the useful role of FDG-PET in the detection and localization of inflammation and noted that this imaging technique may be increasingly used in the future.
The high quality of the text, the richness of important, relevant, and up-to-date issues, the clarity of the drawings, and the excellence of the cases reflect the choice of contributors who are leaders in their field. All authors from Israel, Canada, the UK and the USA, as well as the editors who selected them and organized this work, can be proud of their efforts.