Radiotracers to Address Unmet Clinical Needs in Cardiovascular Imaging, Part 2: Inflammation, Fibrosis, Thrombosis, Calcification, and Amyloidosis Imaging

Cardiovascular imaging is evolving in response to systemwide trends toward molecular characterization and personalized therapies. The development of new radiotracers for PET and SPECT imaging is central to addressing the numerous unmet diagnostic needs that relate to these changes. In this 2-part review, we discuss select radiotracers that may help address key unmet clinical diagnostic needs in cardiovascular medicine. Part 1 examined key technical considerations pertaining to cardiovascular radiotracer development and reviewed emerging radiotracers for perfusion and neuronal imaging. Part 2 covers radiotracers for imaging cardiovascular inflammation, thrombosis, fibrosis, calcification, and amyloidosis. These radiotracers have the potential to address several unmet needs related to the risk stratification of atheroma, detection of thrombi, and the diagnosis, characterization, and risk stratification of cardiomyopathies. In the first section, we discuss radiotracers targeting various aspects of inflammatory responses in pathologies such as myocardial infarction, myocarditis, sarcoidosis, atherosclerosis, and vasculitis. In a subsequent section, we discuss radiotracers for the detection of systemic and device-related thrombi, such as those targeting fibrin (e.g., Cu-64-labeled fibrin-binding probe 8). We also cover emerging radiotracers for the imaging of cardiovascular fibrosis, such as those targeting fibroblast activation protein (e.g., Ga-68-fibroblast activation protein inhibitor). Lastly, we briefly review radiotracers for imaging of cardiovascular calcification (F-18-NaF) and amyloidosis (e.g., Tc-99m-pyrophosphate and F-18-florbetapir).

Automated summary

Cardiovascular imaging is evolving to meet the trends of molecular characterization and personalized therapies. The development of new radiotracers is crucial for addressing the unmet diagnostic needs in cardiovascular medicine. This review discusses various radiotracers for imaging cardiovascular inflammation, thrombosis, fibrosis, calcification, and amyloidosis, which have the potential to improve risk stratification, thrombi detection, and diagnosis of cardiomyopathies.