We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience. This includes personalizing content and advertising. To learn more, click here. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies. Cookie Policy.

Features Partner Sites Information LinkXpress
Sign In
Advertise with Us
GLOBETECH PUBLISHING LLC

Download Mobile App




Novel Targeted Tracer Helps Image Pending Aneurysms

By MedImaging International staff writers
Posted on 16 Aug 2017
Print article
Image: A novel imaging tracer can help detect risk of abdominal aortic aneurysm (Photo courtesy of Yale University).
Image: A novel imaging tracer can help detect risk of abdominal aortic aneurysm (Photo courtesy of Yale University).
A new single-photon emission computed tomography/computed tomography (SPECT/CT) imaging tracer may help assess abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) rupture risk, according to a new study.

Developed at Yale University School of Medicine (New Haven, CT, USA) and the Veterans Affairs Connecticut Healthcare System (VACT; West Haven, USA), the new tracer, RYM1, is based on a water-soluble zwitterionic matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) inhibitor, which is coupled with 6-hydrazinonicotinamide and labeled with 99mTc. In studies in mice, the 99mTc-RYM1 tracer was radiochemically stable in blood for five hours, demonstrating rapid renal clearance and lower blood levels in vivo compared with 99mTc-RP805.

In radiographic studies, specific binding of 99mTc-RYM1 to aneurysm and its specificity were shown in a carotid aneurysm, with in-vivo SPECT/CT images showed higher uptake of the tracer in AAA than non-dilated aortas. The researchers also demonstrated that uptake of 99mTc-RYM1 correlated with aortic MMP activity and macrophage marker CD68 expression, as assessed by zymography and reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The study was published in the August 2017 issue of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine.

“There is no effective medical therapy for AAA, and current guidelines recommend invasive repair of large AAA. However, the morbidity and mortality remain high, so better tools for AAA risk stratification are needed,” said senior author Mehran Sadeghi, MD, of the Yale Cardiovascular Research Center (CRC). “Further development of RYM1-based imaging could expand the applications of molecular imaging and nuclear medicine, and improve patient management in a wide range of diseases.”

MMPs are a group of enzymes that in concert are responsible for the degradation of most extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins during organogenesis, growth, and normal tissue turnover. While expression and activity of MMPs in adult tissues is normally quite low, it increases significantly during some pathological conditions that lead to unwanted tissue destruction, such as inflammatory diseases, tumor growth, and metastasis. MMPs play a key role in AAA development.

Related Links:
Yale University School of Medicine
Veterans Affairs Connecticut Healthcare System
Gold Member
Solid State Kv/Dose Multi-Sensor
AGMS-DM+
Crossover Angiography System
Trinias C16/C12/F12 Unity Smart Edition
New
Portable Radiology System
DRAGON ELITE & CLASSIC
New
Silver Member
Mobile X-Ray Barrier
Lead Acrylic Mobile X-Ray Barriers

Print article

Channels

Ultrasound

view channel
Image: Structure of the proposed transparent ultrasound transducer and its optical transmittance (Photo courtesy of POSTECH)

Ultrasensitive Broadband Transparent Ultrasound Transducer Enhances Medical Diagnosis

The ultrasound-photoacoustic dual-modal imaging system combines molecular imaging contrast with ultrasound imaging. It can display molecular and structural details inside the body in real time without... Read more

Nuclear Medicine

view channel
Image: PET/CT of a 60-year-old male patient with clinical suspicion of lung cancer (Photo courtesy of EJNMMI Physics)

Early 30-Minute Dynamic FDG-PET Acquisition Could Halve Lung Scan Times

F-18 FDG-PET scans are a way to look inside the body using a special dye, and these scans can be either static or dynamic. Static scans happen 60 minutes after the dye is administered into the body, showing... Read more

Imaging IT

view channel
Image: The new Medical Imaging Suite makes healthcare imaging data more accessible, interoperable and useful (Photo courtesy of Google Cloud)

New Google Cloud Medical Imaging Suite Makes Imaging Healthcare Data More Accessible

Medical imaging is a critical tool used to diagnose patients, and there are billions of medical images scanned globally each year. Imaging data accounts for about 90% of all healthcare data1 and, until... Read more

Industry News

view channel
Image: The acquisition will expand IBA’s medical imaging quality assurance offering (Photo courtesy of Radcal)

IBA Acquires Radcal to Expand Medical Imaging Quality Assurance Offering

Ion Beam Applications S.A. (IBA, Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium), the global leader in particle accelerator technology and a world-leading provider of dosimetry and quality assurance (QA) solutions, has entered... Read more
Copyright © 2000-2024 Globetech Media. All rights reserved.