Development of radioiodinated fatty acids for applications in nuclear cardiology

The use of radioiodinated fatty acids for the evaluation of myocardial perfusion and the assessment of regional fatty acid metabolism in relation to myocardial disease have seen rapid growth in the last few years. In this paper the development and use of these agents are reviewed. In addition to a discussion of the design of structurally modified fatty acids, the development of new radiolabeling methods for preparation of the iodine-123-labeled agents is presented. The development of these new agents is discussed, and their potential use in conjunction with single-photon tomography is an exciting new area. A summary of the clinical studies involving measurement of regional washout rate which have been performed with agents such as 17-([123I]iodo)heptadecanoic acid and 15-(p-[123I]iodo phenyl)pentadecanoic acid is also presented. The combined interest and expertise of chemists and clinicians have worked effectively together to make many recent contributions to this area of radiopharmaceutical development