PLoS ONE (Oct 2007)

Imaging of musculoskeletal bacterial infections by [124I]FIAU-PET/CT.

  • Luis A Diaz,
  • Catherine A Foss,
  • Katherine Thornton,
  • Sridhar Nimmagadda,
  • Christopher J Endres,
  • Ovsev Uzuner,
  • Thorsten M Seyler,
  • Slif D Ulrich,
  • Janet Conway,
  • Chetan Bettegowda,
  • Nishant Agrawal,
  • Ian Cheong,
  • Xiaosong Zhang,
  • Paul W Ladenson,
  • Barry N Vogelstein,
  • Michael A Mont,
  • Shibin Zhou,
  • Kenneth W Kinzler,
  • Bert Vogelstein,
  • Martin G Pomper

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0001007
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 2, no. 10
p. e1007

Abstract

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Traditional imaging techniques for the localization and monitoring of bacterial infections, although reasonably sensitive, suffer from a lack of specificity. This is particularly true for musculoskeletal infections. Bacteria possess a thymidine kinase (TK) whose substrate specificity is distinct from that of the major human TK. The substrate specificity difference has been exploited to develop a new imaging technique that can detect the presence of viable bacteria.Eight subjects with suspected musculoskeletal infections and one healthy control were studied by a combination of [(124)I]FIAU-positron emission tomography and CT ([(124)I]FIAU-PET/CT). All patients with proven musculoskeletal infections demonstrated positive [(124)I]FIAU-PET/CT signals in the sites of concern at two hours after radiopharmaceutical administration. No adverse reactions with FIAU were observed.[(124)I]FIAU-PET/CT is a promising new method for imaging bacterial infections.