PET Radiopharmaceuticals for Specific Bacteria Imaging: A Systematic Review

Area of Science:

• Nuclear medicine
• Infectious disease diagnostics
• Radiopharmaceutical development

Background:

• Bacterial infections remain a leading cause of global mortality.
• Radiopharmaceuticals for bacterial imaging utilize SPECT and PET isotopes.
• This review specifically examines PET radiopharmaceuticals for bacterial imaging.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review PET radiopharmaceuticals for bacterial imaging.
• To assess the literature published between 2005 and 2018.
• To identify promising agents and research gaps.

Main Methods:

• Systematic literature review of studies from 2005-2018.
• Independent screening of eligible studies by a review team.
• Data pooling where feasible; separate description otherwise.
• Quality assessment using the QUADAS approach.

Main Results:

• 35 eligible studies were included in the review.
• Studies were categorized by bacterium type (Gram-positive, Gram-negative, etc.) due to heterogeneity.
• Significant heterogeneity in animal models and bacterial strains was observed.

Conclusions:

• Numerous promising PET radiopharmaceuticals for bacterial imaging exist.
• Limited translation to human subjects due to biases and lack of standardization.
• A need for standardized infection models and experimental settings was identified.