Molecular Imaging

Molecular imaging (also called nuclear medicine or nuclear imaging) can image the function of cells inside the body at the molecular level. This includes the imaging modalities of positron emission computed tomography (PET) and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging. How does PET and SPECT imaging work? Small amounts of radioactive material (radiopharmaceuticals) injected into a patient. These can use sugars or chemical traits to bond to specific cells. The radioactive material is taken up by cells that consume the sugars. The radiation emitted from inside the body is detected by photon detectors outside the body. Computers take the data to assemble images of the radiation emissions. Nuclear images may appear fuzzy or ghostly rather than the sharper resolution from MRI and CT.  But, it provides metabolic information at a cellular level, showing if there are defects in the function of the heart, areas of very high metabolic activity associated with cancer cells, or areas of inflammation, data not available from other modalities. These noninvasive imaging exams are used to diagnose cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, bone disorders and other disorders. 

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Diabetes related to lower brain metabolism, but not amyloid plaque

Type two diabetes definitively leads to neuronal injury, but the jury is still out whether it contributes to the buildup of beta-amyloid in the brain associated with Alzheimer’s disease, according to a study published March 20 by the Journal of Nuclear Medicine.

MPI mysteriously down 51% across a Kaiser health system

A community-wide evaluation of myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) use throughout the Kaiser Permanente Northern California health system revealed an unexplainable 51 percent dip in MPI from 2006-2011, according to research published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

MITA names new PET policy director

The Medical Imaging and Technology Alliance (MITA) has brought in Terri Wilson as the organization’s director of PET industry policy.

Is Alzheimer’s the third-leading cause of death?

A major backer of the Alzheimer’s Association is pushing to change the way we categorize Alzheimer’s disease based on a brain study published in Neurology. The research places Alzheimer’s firmly in third place as a leading cause of death in America, instead of its current position of sixth.

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Breast imaging technologies to grow to $5B by 2017

The global breast imaging market is expected to rise at a compound annual growth rate of 15.37 percent until 2017 reaching a total worth of $5 billion, announced research firm RnRMarketResearch.com today.

FDA approves Neuraceq amyloid PET agent

F-18 florbetaben, also known as Neuraceq, received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval today as a diagnostic amyloid agent to help rule out Alzheimer’s disease.

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Zecotek lands U.S. patent for solid-state photo detector

Singapore-based Zecotek Photonics has announced that a new micro-channel avalanche photodiode solid-state photo detector (MAPD) to be used in advanced PET technology has received a notice of allowance from the U.S. Patent Office.

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Nuclear medicine market projected to rise to $24B by 2030

The worldwide nuclear medicine industry is expected to grow an annual percentage rate of 11 percent, mostly due to a steady 30 percent climb in therapeutic radiopharmaneticals every year between 2013 and 2030, according to a March 2014 market report by European research firm MEDraysintell.

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