title: 11C-meta-hydroxyephedrine: a promising PET radiopharmaceutical for imaging the sympathetic nervous system.
abstract: Dysfunction of the sympathetic nervous system underlies many cardiac diseases and can be assessed by molecular imaging using SPECT tracers as I-metaiodobenzylguanidine (I-MIBG). The norepinephrine analog C-meta-hydroxyephedrine (HED) has been used with PET to map the regional distribution of cardiac sympathetic neurons. Hydroxyephedrine is rapidly transported into sympathetic neurons by the norepinephrine transporter and stored in vesicles. This review describes the mechanism of action, radiosynthesis, and application of HED in the assessment of the cardiac sympathetic nervous system in heart failure, myocardial infarction, and arrhythmias. Noncardiac applications of HED in the clinical setting of sympathetic nervous system tumors and other emerging research applications are described.
authors.affiliation: From the *Department of Nuclear Medicine, Sant' Orsola Hospital, University of Bologna School of Medicine, Italy; †Department of Radiology, University of Southern California School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA; ‡Department of Nuclear Medicine, Santa Maria della Misericordia Hospital, Rovigo, Italy.
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Boschi
authors.forename: Filippo
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lodi
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Boschi
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Nanni
authors.forename: Sotirios
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chondrogiannis
authors.forename: Patrick M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Colletti
authors.forename: Domenico
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rubello
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fanti
mesh_terms: D004809:Ephedrine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives*; D006801:Humans; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D013564:Sympathetic Nervous System / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*
chemical_list: D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; C065363:3-hydroxyephedrine; D004809:Ephedrine