Radionuclide vascular imaging and characterization of human metabolic endothelial surface lining

Atherosclerotic vascular disease is the leading cause of death in the Western world. Early diagnostic non-invasive imaging is thus of key interest. Despite a large number of successful attempts in experimental conditions, radionuclide vascular imaging in human has not been very successful. Why is that? Experimental lesions are well defined and homogenous with respect to age, size, intensity and structure. Morphological and biochemical evaluations after radionuclide imaging demonstrate excellent correlation in experimental animals. Human lesions, in contrast, are extremely heterogeneous. Certain aspects, such as lesion monitoring (platelets, low-density lipoprotein) do work. Targeting specific antigens in atherosclerotic lesions with a variety of different antibodies, however, has not succeeded. If we learn to better understand functional imaging information vascular imaging data eventually are better than widely considered as a consequence of a lacking comparative standard for the functional activity of the vascular wall. More basic experimental information is required to improve application and optimize information. Stem cell research is the next upcoming approach to give nuclear medicine a chance to demonstrate its clinical value in a rapidly developing new discipline.