Despite advances in health care delivery, inflammatory and infectious diseases continued to be significant contributors to mortality and morbidity globally. The scourge of ancient diseases like Tuberculosis continues to ravage the human population while newer diseases are emerging. Prompt and accurate diagnosis is germane to the effective treatment of infection. Differentiating inflammatory from infectious conditions may sometimes present with great difficulties. Obtaining a biological sample for pathogen isolation and for differentiating sterile inflammation from infectious diseases may not be feasible because of non-localizing signs and symptoms as in fever of unknown origin or may be considered dangerous. Imaging, therefore, presents a useful opportunity for the non-invasive evaluation of inflammation and infection. Targeting molecular pathways in the pathogen may offer an opportunity for specific microbial detection early in the disease course, differentiating inflammation from infection, and treatment response assessment.
Molecular imaging techniques present useful opportunities for the early detection of inflammation and infection before morphologic changes detectable by anatomic imaging modalities occur. Targeting molecular pathways specific to pathogens may be useful for differentiating sterile inflammation from infection. Despite these appealing potential utilities of molecular imaging in the management of inflammation and infection, several challenges remain, militating against their widespread applications in the clinic. These challenges include:
• Identification of pathogen-specific molecular pathways.
• Development of suitable animal models of human inflammatory and infectious diseases for pre-clinical studies.
• Development of radiopharmaceuticals targeting pathogen-specific molecular pathways.
• Large clinical studies to validate the ability of the molecular probes to detect pathogen strain of interest, predict response to treatment, and predict disease outcome.
• Optimize imaging systems for sensitivity; spatial, temporal, and contrast resolution; and accurate quantification.
• Non-invasive differentiation of sterile inflammation from infection with good accuracy.
In this Research Topic we welcome original and reviews articles on the following research themes:
• Bacterial-specific imaging.
• Infection imaging with hybrid tracers.
• Radionuclide imaging of cardiovascular inflammation and infection with SPECT and PET techniques.
• Functional imaging of infection with ultrasound and MRI.
• Radionuclide imaging of rheumatic diseases.
• Radionuclide imaging in viral infections including SARS-CoV-2, HIV infections.
• Imaging of pulmonary and extra-pulmonary tuberculosis.
• Fungal infection imaging.
• Musculoskeletal infection imaging
• Application of radionuclide imaging techniques in the differentiation of inflammatory from infectious diseases.
• Application of novel technologies in infection imaging e.g. PET/MR, total-body PET/CT.
• Novel tracers for inflammation and infection imaging.
• PET quantification in infection/inflammation imaging.
Despite advances in health care delivery, inflammatory and infectious diseases continued to be significant contributors to mortality and morbidity globally. The scourge of ancient diseases like Tuberculosis continues to ravage the human population while newer diseases are emerging. Prompt and accurate diagnosis is germane to the effective treatment of infection. Differentiating inflammatory from infectious conditions may sometimes present with great difficulties. Obtaining a biological sample for pathogen isolation and for differentiating sterile inflammation from infectious diseases may not be feasible because of non-localizing signs and symptoms as in fever of unknown origin or may be considered dangerous. Imaging, therefore, presents a useful opportunity for the non-invasive evaluation of inflammation and infection. Targeting molecular pathways in the pathogen may offer an opportunity for specific microbial detection early in the disease course, differentiating inflammation from infection, and treatment response assessment.
Molecular imaging techniques present useful opportunities for the early detection of inflammation and infection before morphologic changes detectable by anatomic imaging modalities occur. Targeting molecular pathways specific to pathogens may be useful for differentiating sterile inflammation from infection. Despite these appealing potential utilities of molecular imaging in the management of inflammation and infection, several challenges remain, militating against their widespread applications in the clinic. These challenges include:
• Identification of pathogen-specific molecular pathways.
• Development of suitable animal models of human inflammatory and infectious diseases for pre-clinical studies.
• Development of radiopharmaceuticals targeting pathogen-specific molecular pathways.
• Large clinical studies to validate the ability of the molecular probes to detect pathogen strain of interest, predict response to treatment, and predict disease outcome.
• Optimize imaging systems for sensitivity; spatial, temporal, and contrast resolution; and accurate quantification.
• Non-invasive differentiation of sterile inflammation from infection with good accuracy.
In this Research Topic we welcome original and reviews articles on the following research themes:
• Bacterial-specific imaging.
• Infection imaging with hybrid tracers.
• Radionuclide imaging of cardiovascular inflammation and infection with SPECT and PET techniques.
• Functional imaging of infection with ultrasound and MRI.
• Radionuclide imaging of rheumatic diseases.
• Radionuclide imaging in viral infections including SARS-CoV-2, HIV infections.
• Imaging of pulmonary and extra-pulmonary tuberculosis.
• Fungal infection imaging.
• Musculoskeletal infection imaging
• Application of radionuclide imaging techniques in the differentiation of inflammatory from infectious diseases.
• Application of novel technologies in infection imaging e.g. PET/MR, total-body PET/CT.
• Novel tracers for inflammation and infection imaging.
• PET quantification in infection/inflammation imaging.
