PET/MR imaging of inflammation in atherosclerosis

Max L Senders; Claudia Calcagno; Ahmed Tawakol; Matthias Nahrendorf; Willem J M Mulder; Zahi A Fayad

doi:10.1038/s41551-022-00970-7

PET/MR imaging of inflammation in atherosclerosis

Nat Biomed Eng. 2023 Mar;7(3):202-220. doi: 10.1038/s41551-022-00970-7. Epub 2022 Dec 15.

Authors

Max L Senders^{1

2}, Claudia Calcagno¹, Ahmed Tawakol³, Matthias Nahrendorf⁴, Willem J M Mulder^{5

6

7}, Zahi A Fayad⁸

Affiliations

¹ BioMedical Engineering and Imaging Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA.
² Department of Biomedical Engineering and Physics, Amsterdam University Medical Centers, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
³ Cardiology Division and Cardiovascular Imaging Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
⁴ Center for Systems Biology and Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
⁵ Department of Biomedical Engineering and Physics, Amsterdam University Medical Centers, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. willem.mulder@radboudumc.nl.
⁶ Department of Internal Medicine, Radboud Institute of Molecular Life Sciences (RIMLS) and Radboud Center for Infectious Diseases (RCI), Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center, Nijmegen, the Netherlands. willem.mulder@radboudumc.nl.
⁷ Laboratory of Chemical Biology, Department of Biochemical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, the Netherlands. willem.mulder@radboudumc.nl.
⁸ BioMedical Engineering and Imaging Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA. zahi.fayad@mssm.edu.

PMID: 36522465
DOI: 10.1038/s41551-022-00970-7

Abstract

Myocardial infarction, stroke, mental disorders, neurodegenerative processes, autoimmune diseases, cancer and the human immunodeficiency virus impact the haematopoietic system, which through immunity and inflammation may aggravate pre-existing atherosclerosis. The interplay between the haematopoietic system and its modulation of atherosclerosis has been studied by imaging the cardiovascular system and the activation of haematopoietic organs via scanners integrating positron emission tomography and resonance imaging (PET/MRI). In this Perspective, we review the applicability of integrated whole-body PET/MRI for the study of immune-mediated phenomena associated with haematopoietic activity and cardiovascular disease, and discuss the translational opportunities and challenges of the technology.

Publication types

Review
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

Atherosclerosis* / diagnostic imaging
Humans
Inflammation / diagnostic imaging
Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods
Multimodal Imaging* / methods
Positron-Emission Tomography / methods