Evaluation of 99mTc-Cefuroxime axetil for imaging of inflammation

Localizing and distinguishing the 'infection' in body sites are very important and life saving processes. Scintigraphic detections may help to determine the sites of inflammation and infection. At this point, nuclear medical imaging may proceed one step further and be helpful to localize and distinguish the inflammation. The radiolabeled antibiotic 99mTc-Cefuroxime axetil was assessed as an infection imaging agent in a rat model. In this study, 99mTc-Cefuroxime axetil was examined in localizing the normal, sterile inflamed, and septic inflamed rat muscle tissues, and also in distinguishing each of them. The biodistribution data show that 99mTc labeled Cefuroxime axetil was retained in infectious areas. The retention was better in septic inflamed (S. aureus) area than sterile inflamed area. The clearance of the labeled antibiotic from other tissues is rapid on the contrary to its clearance from the septic area. Target/non-target ratio shows a good value of 2.5 at 4-hour post injection when the activity of the other organs is cleared by urinary excretion. (author)