Can infections be imaged in implanted devices?

Approximately 30,000 to 60,000 patients per year in the United States are candidates for heart transplants, mechanical assist devices, or both. These procedures, devices, and the associated short- and long-term care required are expensive and command significant utilization of health care resources. Because device related infection and thrombosis are potentially devastating complications of implanted device utilization, early diagnosis of infection, thrombosis, or both, would be helpful for initiation of early therapy to prevent untoward clinical events. Therefore, the development of a robust imaging technology for identification of infection could be cost effective if early assessment, diagnosis, and therapy of infected devices led to improvements in morbidity and mortality.