Nuclear medicine in chronic infections

Abstract

Background. The availability of high sensitive radiopharmaceuticals for the diagnosis of an unknown focus of infection with whole body scanning and SPECT and the availability of high specific radiopharmaceuticals for the detection of a leucocytic infiltration are the basis of the high potential of nuclear medicine in patients with chronic infections. Both procedures are always complementary to radiological procedures,which can specify and better determine a detected focus and which can induce also infection imaging if the radiologic result is ambiguous. Radiopharmaceuticals. Not all available radiopharmaceuticals for the nuclear medicine imaging of infection and inflammation, i.e. Tc-99m-nanocolloids, Tc-99m-labelled human immunoglobulin, Tc-99m-HMPAO and In-111-oxin labelled leukocytes, Ga-67-citrate, Tc-99m-labelled antigranulocyte antibodies and their fragments and F-18-FGD-PET, are useful in all clinical situations, because there are differences in the availability, the radiation exposure, the costs and the underlying patho-physiological mechanism.