New SPECT and PET Radiopharmaceuticals for Imaging Inflammatory Diseases: A Meta-analysis of the Last 10 Years.

Modern molecular nuclear medicine is rapidly developing in the field of imaging of chronic inflammatory diseases, and many new radiopharmaceuticals have been recently described and tested in animals and man. These can detect early pathophysiological changes before the development of anatomical changes and, often, before clinical onset of symptoms. This field includes new radiopharmaceuticals for SPECT and PET use to define new strategies for imaging immune cells as well as tissue modifications induced by the inflammatory process.

Current Status of Molecular Imaging in Inflammatory and Autoimmune Disorders.

In the field of inflammation imaging, nuclear medicine techniques can be considered as a non-invasive tool to early detect pathophysiological changes in affected tissues. These changes usually occur before clinical onset of symptoms and before the development of anatomical changes, that are commonly detected by radiological procedures. This is particularly important for prognostic purposes, therapy decision making and for therapy follow-up.

Image acquisition and interpretation criteria for 99mTc-HMPAO-labelled white blood cell scintigraphy: results of a multicentre study.

Purpose: There is no consensus yet on the best protocol for planar image acquisition and interpretation of radiolabelled white blood cell (WBC) scintigraphy. This may account for differences in reported diagnostic accuracy amongst different centres.

Methods: This was a multicentre retrospective study analysing 235 WBC scans divided into two groups.

Leukocyte and bacteria imaging in prosthetic joint infection.

There has been a significant increase in the number of joint prosthesis replacements worldwide. Although relatively uncommon, complications can occur with the most serious being an infection. Various radiological and nuclear imaging techniques are available to diagnose prosthetic joint infections (PJI).