Imaging coronary and aortic microcalcification activity with ¹⁸F-sodium fluoride

Excerpt

In clinical practice, the diagnosis and management of patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) relies on non-invasive advanced cardiac imaging.¹ While for several decades the role of nuclear imaging in CAD was primarily the evaluation of the presence and extent of myocardial ischemia, recent advances in positron emission tomography (PET) have allowed assessment of CAD beyond myocardial perfusion imaging.² Dedicated coronary PET targeting the processes which are implicated in plaque progression such as inflammation (with ¹⁸F-fluorodeoxyglucose and ⁶⁸Ga-DOTATATE) and active calcification or microcalcifications (with ¹⁸F-sodium fluoride—¹⁸F-NaF) has enhanced our understanding of the disease, but also emerged as a tool for prediction of future myocardial infarction.^3,4 To date the literature is most advanced for the ¹⁸F-NaF, which is also the only coronary PET tracer with available prognostic information.⁵ …