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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SNMMI offers new grant for physics training

The Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) announced Jan. 6 that a new nuclear medicine physics residency grant would provide $75,000 in funding for a single resident for up to two years.

Isotope production alternatives aim to meet North American demand

With the world’s major producing reactors shutting down regularly or facing decommission, some enterprising solutions to medical isotope production are jockeying to pick up the slack in North America, according to a review published Dec. 11 in Nature.

Global MRI market forecast at $5.24B by 2018

The worldwide MRI industry is expected to be worth more than $5 billion in the next four years with a calculated annual growth rate of 4.56 percent, according to a market report from research firm MarketsandMarkets.

Clinical trials expand for tau-based Alzheimer’s treatment

TauRx Therapeutics, the Singapore-based biopharmaceutical company behind a novel tau-modifying Alzheimer’s therapy, is adding 35 new U.S. research sites to its phase III clinical trials network currently researching the drug LMTX as a potential therapy to slow and prevent the progression of Alzheimer’s in patients with mild to moderate cognitive impairment.

Protecting the thyroid: I-123 MIBG blockade passes the test

Whether to block or leave unblocked was the question when evaluating I-123 meta-iodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) for thyroid uptake. Patients who received thyroid blockade to inhibit absorption of unbound radioiodine during cardiac imaging showed less overall thyroid activity in planar imaging, according to a study published Jan. 2 in the Journal of Nuclear Medicine.

Radiogenomics: A closer look

The radiologic and pathologic methods of the past century are being replaced by recent knowledge about disease pathology and genetic specialty, moving away from the appearance of disease toward the expression of genes that play an important role in risk stratification, diagnostics, monitoring disease progression and projecting survival.

Alzheimer’s birthplace in the brain announced

The lateral entorhinal cortex has been named the area in the brain where neurodegenerative disease originates, providing new information about how neuronal dysfunction leads to Alzheimer’s progression, according to a study published Dec. 22 in Nature Neuroscience.

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HIV takes a hit with radioimmunotherapy

Targeted radionuclide therapy could change the whole paradigm used to treat human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), according to one of the most remarkable studies to emerge from the recent Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) annual meeting last month in Chicago.

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