Could 68 Ga-DOTA-UBI-29-41 Help Identify Chronic Osteomyelitis on PET/CT Images? A Pilot Study.

Area of Science:

• Nuclear Medicine
• Infectious Diseases
• Orthopedic Surgery

Background:

• Chronic osteomyelitis presents diagnostic challenges, often requiring invasive procedures to confirm infection.
• Accurate localization of infectious foci is crucial for effective surgical intervention and treatment of osteomyelitis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the utility of positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) imaging with 68Ga-DOTA-UBI (29-41) for detecting infectious agents in chronic osteomyelitis.
• To assess the correlation between PET/CT findings and microbiological cultures from surgical samples.

Main Methods:

• A pilot study involving 7 patients with chronic osteomyelitis underwent whole-body PET/CT using 68Ga-DOTA-UBI (29-41) radiotracer.
• Imaging was performed 45-60 minutes post-injection of the radiotracer (148-260 MBq) on a Siemens Healthineers Biograph mCT 40 scanner.
• PET/CT results were compared with intraoperative secretion sample cultures.

Main Results:

• PET/CT imaging identified infectious foci in 6 out of 7 patients.
• Microbiological cultures confirmed the presence of infectious agents in these 6 patients.
• Only one patient receiving antibiotic therapy showed negative PET/CT findings.

Conclusions:

• 68Ga-DOTA-UBI (29-41) PET/CT imaging shows promise for identifying infectious foci in chronic osteomyelitis.
• This imaging technique can aid in the diagnosis and surgical management of osteomyelitis.
• Further studies are warranted to confirm these findings in a larger cohort.