New concepts in infection/inflammation imaging.
Although autologous leukocytes, labelled with 111In or 99mTc, is still considered the "gold standard" nuclear medicine technique to image infection and inflammation, there is a great need for a less cumbersome and less hazardous approach. Over the last few decades the range of radiopharmaceuticals to investigate infectious and non-microbial inflammatory disorders is vastly expanding. Radiolabelled monoclonal antibodies and antibody-fragments, radiolabelled chemotactic peptides and cytokines, and radiolabelled antibiotics are promising new approaches in the field of nuclear medicine. Recently, positron emission tomography (PET) with 18FJDG has been introduced and has been shown to delineate infectious and inflammatory foci with high sensitivity. Here, a survey is presented of the different approaches in use or under investigation.
Rennen
H J
HJ
Department of Nuclear Medicine, University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. H.Rennen@nugen.azn.nl
Corstens
F H
FH
Oyen
W J
WJ
Boerman
O C
OC
D000818:Animals; D016207:Cytokines / Q000378:metabolism; D019040:E-Selectin / Q000032:analysis; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D006098:Granulocytes / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007239:Infections / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D007249:Inflammation / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed
D016207:Cytokines; D019040:E-Selectin; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18