Expert opinions in nuclear medicine: Finding the "holy grail" in infection imaging

Andor W J M Glaudemans; Olivier Gheysens

doi:10.3389/fmed.2023.1149925

Expert opinions in nuclear medicine: Finding the "holy grail" in infection imaging

Front Med (Lausanne). 2023 Feb 27:10:1149925. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2023.1149925. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Andor W J M Glaudemans¹, Olivier Gheysens²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands.
² Department of Nuclear Medicine, Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc and Institute of Clinical and Experimental Research (IREC), Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium.

Abstract

Nuclear medicine imaging techniques are now widely accepted and increasingly used for diagnosing and treatment monitoring of infectious and inflammatory diseases. The latter has been exemplified by numerous recent clinical guidelines in which PET imaging is now part of the diagnostic flowcharts. In this perspective paper we discuss the current available guidelines, the current limitations, and we provide the future aims of research to achieve the holy grail in nuclear medicine: the differentiation between infection, inflammation and malignancy.

Keywords: LAFOV PET; PET-CT; infection; inflammation; molecular imaging; specific radiotracers.