A Review of Radiodiagnostics of Inflammation

Overview

Inflammation is a complex reaction of the organism which develops as a response to invasion of aninfectious subject or as a response to injury to cells or tissues. Correct and early localization ofinfection or an inflammatory lesion allows removing the inflammatory cause quickly. Over the recentthirty years, a wide range of radiopharmaceuticals, more or less applicable in scintigraphic imagingof inflammatory and infectious diseases, have been developed. The aim has been to develop newsubstances that are non-toxic, do not provoke immune reactions, and produce a minimal absorbedradioactive dose. Furthermore, these substances should accumulate significantly in the target tissue(i.e. in inflammation), while the accumulation in non-target tissues should be minimal or theelimination of radiopharmaceuticals from non-target tissues must be quick. The goal is that thesesubstances may also be easily available and inexpensive. Another purpose is to develop suchsubstances that could possess not only sufficient sensitivity but also specificity in relation to certaintypes of inflammation and infection. The main indications for radionuclide imaging are as follows:inflammatory bowel disease, soft tissue sepsis, predominantly abdominal sepsis, musculoskeletalinfection, and fever of unknown origin.

Key words:
imaging – inflammation – infection – radiopharmaceuticals