Imaging neuronal cell death is an emerging field in neuroimaging. It can have many implications. In Alzheimer’s disease we will be able to evaluate if there is cell death, and the actual amount of it happening. In Stroke we will be able to evaluate the penumb zone and the response to treatment. In Cancer we will be able to evaluate the response to treatment by measuring the ratio of dead cancerous cells to healthy brain tissue. In Head Trauma we will be able to evaluate the progression of pathology and if it responds to treatment. Here is an interesting article that discusses the utility of the F18-ML-10 PET tracer for imaging apoptosis in Stroke:
Reshef A et al, Molecular Imaging of Neurovascular Cell Death in Experimental Cerebral Stroke by PET ; J Nucl Med 2008; 49 1520-1528
Adolfo Cotter, MD
May 09/2010
