Imaging myocardial inflammation of various etiologies with 99mTc-depreotide SPET/CT

Hell J Nucl Med. 2011 Sep-Dec;14(3):260-3.

Abstract

Previous reports suggested the accumulation of technetium-99m-depreotide trifluoroacetate ((99m)Tc-D) at the sites of active infection or inflammation. Binding of depreotide to over-expressed somatostatin receptors in activated lymphocytes and macrophages probably accounts for the depiction of inflammation. We speculated that myocardial inflammation could also be illustrated by (99m)Tc-D scintigraphy. We report on 3 patients with the clinical diagnosis of myocarditis of various etiologies, in which (99m)Tc-D SPET/CT demonstrated obvious tracer uptake in the myocardium of the left ventricle. In conclusion, we suggest that depreotide imaging can depict myocardial inflammation, thus supporting clinical diagnosis.

MeSH terms

  • Humans
  • Inflammation
  • Myocarditis*
  • Myocardium
  • Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon*
  • Tomography, X-Ray Computed