Clinical Focus

  • Nuclear Medicine

Academic Appointments

Professional Education

  • Board Certification: American Board of Nuclear Medicine, Nuclear Medicine (2002)
  • Residency: Stanford University Nuclear Medicine Residency (2002) CA
  • Internship: University of Washington Medical Center Dept of Medicine (2000) WA
  • Medical Education: University of Michigan School of Medicine (1999) MI

Contact

  • Clinical (Primary)  Nuclear Medicine 300 Pasteur Dr Rm H0250 MC 5281 Stanford, CA 94305 (650) 498-5047 (fax)

Additional Clinical Info

Additional Info

  • Mail Code: 5281
  • Profile:
    Physician at Stanford University Medical Center

All Publications

  • Elephantiasic prefibial myxedema THYROID Cohen, J. B., Balzer, B., Wapnir, I., McDougall, I. R. 2004; 14 (3): 237-238

    View details for PubMedID 15072707

  • Clinical implications of the differences between diagnostic I-123 and post-therapy I-131 scans NUCLEAR MEDICINE COMMUNICATIONS Cohen, J. B., Kalinyak, J. E., McDougall, I. R. 2004; 25 (2): 129-134

    Abstract

    123I has been promoted for diagnostic imaging as a means of avoiding 'stunning'. It has also been suggested that the more favourable physical characteristics and consequent enhanced imaging resolution provided by 123I offers a more accurate diagnostic assessment of the extent of disease prior to therapy. This study evaluated pairs of diagnostic 123I and post-therapy 131I scans for differences in patterns of radioiodine uptake.Thirty-eight patients (31 women and seven men) with a history of differentiated thyroid cancer underwent 41 diagnostic 123I studies. 131I therapy was administered to 29 patients as soon as possible after positive diagnostic findings were confirmed (with one patient being treated twice during the study period, making 30 treatments). Post-treatment scans were obtained an average of 5.8 days after therapy.Qualitative comparison of diagnostic 123I and post-therapy 131I scans revealed a decrease in the extent of post-treatment uptake in four of the 30 treatments (13%). Seven patients (23%) demonstrated increased uptake on their post-therapy 131I scan.Because the physical characteristics of 123I make it inconceivable that it could cause stunning, the decrease in post-treatment uptake seen in 13% of patients from this series increases the likelihood that this pattern is due to factors other than stunning, such as differential rates of radioiodine turnover. In addition, the increase in extent of post-therapy uptake seen in 23% of patients suggests that diagnostic imaging with 123I is vulnerable to the same pre-therapy staging inaccuracies as is low-dose diagnostic imaging with 131I. Further work is needed to determine whether larger diagnostic doses of 123I might mitigate this problem.

    View details for DOI 10.1097/01.mnm.0000116974.02363.cb

    View details for Web of Science ID 000220962600006

    View details for PubMedID 15154700

  • Modern management of differentiated thyroid cancer CANCER BIOTHERAPY AND RADIOPHARMACEUTICALS Cohen, J. B., Kalinyak, J. E., McDougall, I. R. 2003; 18 (5): 689-705

    Abstract

    The outcome in differentiated thyroid cancer is excellent. Simple prognostic factors, including the age of the patient at diagnosis, the size of the primary cancer, completeness of surgical excision, and the presence of distant metastases, allow the clinician to judge how a patient will do. The preferred treatment is total thyroidectomy and in selected patients radioactive iodine can be used to ablate residual thyroid or functioning metastases in lymph nodes and distant sites. The physician has two excellent methods for following the patient: the whole-body scan with radionuclides of iodine, and measurement of serum thyroglobulin. In patients with elevated thyroglobulin and negative scans with radioactive iodine, there is increasing evidence that positron emission tomography (PET) is helpful in locating the site of thyroglobulin production.

    View details for Web of Science ID 000186592600003

    View details for PubMedID 14629818

  • Ectopic intrathyroidal thymoma: A case report and review THYROID Cohen, J. B., Troxell, M., Kong, C. S., McDougall, I. R. 2003; 13 (3): 305-308

    Abstract

    Ectopic intrathyroidal thymomas are an exceedingly rare clinical entity that can be challenging to diagnose. This report describes a 39-year-old Japanese woman who presented with prominent left-sided thyroid enlargement that was thought to be a dominant thyroid nodule by ultrasound. Two fine-needle aspiration biopsies showed an atypical lymphoid proliferation that was suspicious for although not diagnostic of a low-grade lymphoma. A diagnosis of ectopic intrathyroidal thymoma was made only after appropriate histopathologic assessment of the surgical specimen.

    View details for PubMedID 12729482