18F-FDG labelling of human leukocytes

PET Imaging of Bacterial Infections with Fluorine‐18‐Labeled Maltohexaose

“…[5] 18 FDG therefore cannot distinguish bacterial infections from other pathologies such as cancer and inflammation, and cannot diagnose bacterial infections at an early stage. [5a, 6] Although numerous experimental PET contrast agents have been developed for imaging bacterial infections, such as radiolabeled antibiotics, [7] antimicrobial peptides, [1a] antibodies [8] or white blood cells, [9] these agents have had minimal clinical impact. Several factors have contributed to the lack of success of bacterial imaging agents, such as poor clearance due to non-specific adsorption, low target receptor expression on bacteria, or complicated radiochemical synthesis, which are challenging to perform in clinical radiochemistry labs.…”