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Molecular Imaging in Atherosclerosis: FDG PET

  • Clinical Trials and Their Interpretations (J Plutzky, Section Editor)
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Abstract

18F-FDG PET is a new noninvasive tool for inflammation functional imaging. Low spatial resolution is now compensated by coregistration with CT or MRI. New mechanistic insights have emerged from animal and histology to explain the obtained signals by hypoxia, macrophage infiltration, and differentiation. Mixed results have been found in biomarkers studies. Interesting data have come recently linking plaque anatomy and function in carotids and in aortic aneurysms as well as inflammation and events. In coronary arteries, plaque assessment is still hampered by myocardium uptake but developments are being made. 18-FDG PET has been able to monitor inflammation before and after several therapies in animals and humans but to date the lack of standardization and the absence of prospective event-driven studies prevent this promising technique to be used in clinical practice.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported in part by NIH/NHLBI R01 HL071021, R01 HL078667; NIH/NBIB R01 EB009638; NIH/NHLBI Program of Excellence in Nanotechnology (PEN) Award, Contract #HHSN268201000045C; and NIH/NCRR CTSA UL1RR029887 (Imaging Core), and by funds from the Mount Sinai Cardiovascular Institute and the Department of Radiology. David Rosenbaum’s work was partially supported by the Fédération Française de Cardiologie, Paris, France.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unité de Prévention Cardiovasculaire, Pole Cardiologie métabolisme, Groupe Hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtrière, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, 83, Boulevard de l’Hôpital, 75651, Paris Cedex 13, France

    David Rosenbaum

  2. UMR S939, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris 6, Paris, France

    David Rosenbaum

  3. Translational and Molecular Imaging Institute, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Mount Sinai Hospital, One Gustave L. Levy Place, New York, NY, 10528, USA

    Antoine Millon & Zahi A. Fayad

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  1. David Rosenbaum
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  2. Antoine Millon
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Correspondence to David Rosenbaum or Zahi A. Fayad.

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Rosenbaum, D., Millon, A. & Fayad, Z.A. Molecular Imaging in Atherosclerosis: FDG PET. Curr Atheroscler Rep 14, 429–437 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11883-012-0264-x

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