Gallium Imaging of Infection and Inflammation

Infection and inflammation are both important causes of morbidity and mortality and often co-exist not just with each other but also with other disease entities. In instances where a definite distinction between the two processes is required in order to best manage the patient, time may not be sufficient to wait for the results of time-consuming cultures. Imaging provides a noninvasive diagnostic tool, which, when applied as positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT), is able to image the whole body in one investigation and to provide detailed morphological information combined with molecular information on the pathophysiology in one convenient study. Application of gallium-68-based tracers provides further important advantages with regard to costs, availability, and versatility. These advancements developed from earlier infection and inflammation single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging performed with [67Ga]Ga-citrate, which has supplied physicians over many decades with a versatile diagnostic tool, commonly referred to as “the poor man’s alternative to PET.” In this chapter, inflammation and infection imaging will be discussed and further divided into preclinical developments, clinical applications, and possible future applications.