PET Imaging

Note the high uptake of Ga-68-pentixafor on multi-planar reconstructions in the organs expressing CXCR4 such as the spleen (red arrows) and adrenal glands (yellow arrows), which was nearly completely blocked by the pre-injection of AMD 3100, a potent CXCR4 inhibitor. Strong accumulation of Ga-68-pentixafor was also found in the kidneys (asterisks) reflecting the renal clearance of the tracer. In addition, high, focal activities were detected in the abdominal aorta (red arrowheads) and right carotid artery (orange arrowheads) of atherosclerotic rabbits, whereas no significant signal could be detected in the non-injured left carotid artery (white arrowheads) of atherosclerotic and control rabbits, as well as in the abdominal aorta and right carotid artery of control rabbits. Furthermore, focal activities detected with PET in atherosclerotic plaques of the abdominal aorta and the right carotid artery decreased significantly when the same rabbit was re-imaged after blocking CXCR4 receptors. Image courtesy of Fabien Hyafil, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Nuclear Medicine, Klinikum Rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany

Application of dual-modality optical and PET/CT activity-based probe in experimental carotid inflammation model. Coronal noninvasive PET/CT scans of (A) healthy and (B) diseased mice with and without ligated carotid arteries respectively. Inset images show optical ex vivo florescence imagining of (A) healthy and (B) diseased carotid arteries.  PET/CT and optical images courtesy of Xiaowei Ma, Toshinobu Saito and Nimali Withana.

Panel A shows a flank A549 lung tumor in a nude mouse with combined 18F-FDG PET uptake (signal intensity in color) and T2-weighted anatomical MRI (grayscale). Panel B shows a similar tumor image with a relative permeability map for the tumor (color code) overlaid on a corresponding anatomical MRI reference. Regions identified as necrotic were not included in the DCE MRI analysis. Image courtesy of the University of Arizona Department of Medical Imaging.