Radiolabelled white blood cells or FDG for imaging of inflammation and infection?

摘要

Nuclear medicine plays an important role in the management of patients with inflammatory and infectious diseases, especially when anatomical changes in inflammatory foci are absent or obscured. Several radiopharmaceuticals have been used for scintigraphic imaging of infectious and sterile inflammatory foci, including ~(67)Ga-citrate, labelled white blood cells, antibodies, human immunoglobulin and antibiotics. Since the 1970s, scintigraphic imaging with labelled white blood cells has been the most frequently used nuclear imaging method for clinical diagnosis of infection and inflammation worldwide. The success of white blood cell scintigraphy is primarily due to its superb diagnostic accuracy. White blood cell scintigraphy comprises the isolation of autologous leukocytes, the ex vivo labelling of these cells with either ~(99m)Tc-HPMAO or ~(111)In-oxine and reinjection of the labelled cells into the patient. The preparation of the radiopharmaceutical is the Achilles's heel of white blood cell imaging, because it requires a trained technician and special facilities.