[Current trends in infection imaging].
Infection imaging is a field of intense interest in medicine because, despite the great advances in our understanding of microorganisms and the development of new antimicrobial agents, infection remains a major cause of patient morbidity and mortality. Nuclear Medicine for many years has an important role in this field. The significance of this role varies in different clinical situations, in some cases being complementary to other imaging modalities as in postoperative patients, and in some cases being the method of choice as in orthopaedic infections after implants have been placed. Today there are many agents in Nuclear Medicine capable in imaging infection. Each of them has its own advantages and drawbacks. In recent years there is an increased research in the field with new methods tested. Among them are labelled antibacterial agents, labelled antimicrobial peptides, monoclonal antibodies for leukocyte labelling, labelled liposomes, and (18)F-FDG-PET. In this short article there is an effort to briefly review these agents and their possible role in infection imaging.
Spyridonidis
Trifon
T
Nuclear Medicine Physician, Nuclear Medicine Department, Rio Central Hospital, Rio, Patra, Greece. tspyr@med.upatras.gr.
Markou
Pavlos
P
D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D006801:Humans; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D016459:Prosthesis-Related Infections / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends*; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals
D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18