Use of Nanoparticles As Contrast Agents for the Functional and Molecular Imaging of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm

Theophilus I Emeto; Faith O Alele; Amy M Smith; Felicity M Smith; Tammy Dougan; Jonathan Golledge

doi:10.3389/fcvm.2017.00016

Use of Nanoparticles As Contrast Agents for the Functional and Molecular Imaging of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm

Front Cardiovasc Med. 2017 Mar 23:4:16. doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2017.00016. eCollection 2017.

Authors

Theophilus I Emeto¹, Faith O Alele², Amy M Smith², Felicity M Smith², Tammy Dougan³, Jonathan Golledge⁴

Affiliations

¹ Public Health and Tropical Medicine, College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, Australia; Queensland Research Centre for Peripheral Vascular Diseases, College of Medicine and Dentistry, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, Australia.
² Public Health and Tropical Medicine, College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences, James Cook University , Townsville, QLD , Australia.
³ Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Addenbrookes Hospital , Cambridge , UK.
⁴ Queensland Research Centre for Peripheral Vascular Diseases, College of Medicine and Dentistry, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, Australia; Department of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, The Townsville Hospital, Townsville, QLD, Australia.

Abstract

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a degenerative disease of the aorta common in adults older than 65 years of age. AAA is usually imaged using ultrasound or computed tomography. Molecular imaging technologies employing nanoparticles (NPs) have been proposed as novel ways to quantify pathological processes, such as inflammation, within AAAs as a means to identify the risk of rapid progression or rupture. This article reviews the current evidence supporting the role of NP-based imaging in the management of AAA. Currently, ultrasmall superparamagnetic NPs enhanced magnetic resonance imaging appears to hold the greatest potential for imaging macrophage-mediated inflammation in human AAA.

Keywords: abdominal aortic aneurysm; animal studies; diagnosis; human studies; nanoparticles.

Publication types

Review