Radiopharmaceuticals: A Guide to PET/CT and PET/MRI

The book is a practical and concise guide to PET tracers actually useful for PET/CT and PET/MR imaging.

Gaining knowledge on radiopharmaceuticals is often difficult, since their features can be only found in single original journal articles.This book aims to present to the reader, in one single place, clinical features, indications and future trends for PET imaging with a large amount of tracers. While 18F-FDG  still remains the miliar stone across PET tracer, new emerging fields of application of PET imaging are consolidated by using disease specific tracers in specific clinical settings.

Each chapter is focused on a single tracer or on a group of similar tracers. The basis and structure of the chapters is the same throughout the book: essential information on synthesis and in vivo distribution of a tracer, clinical cases, eloquently showing clinical indications and usefulness, future trends, scientific literature.

Featuring over 30 radiopharmaceuticals and 240 clinical cases, the 3^rd edition has been enriched with additional chapters on the clinical indications and/or common pitfalls for 18F-fluciclovine PET/CT in prostate cancer imaging and for 18F-MISO in PET tumor hypoxia imaging, as well as applications and future directions for 18F-FES and other PET radiopharmaceuticals.

All other chapters of the previous edition have been revised and updated, in particular those chapters covering 18F-DOPA, radiolabeled choline, and 18F-NAF, due to emerging clinical applications for these tracers, 18F-choline for imaging of parathyroid adenoma and 18F-DOPA for restaging of medullary thyroid cancer.

The book will be an invaluable guide for professionals and residents in nuclear medicine, radiology, oncology.  

Dr. Ferdinando Calabria graduated with a degree in Medicine in 2005 and specialized in Nuclear Medicine in 2009 at the University of Rome “Tor Vergata.” His specific scientific interest is in deepening our knowledge of the physio-pathological features of PET radiopharmaceuticals bio-distribution in order to verify further diagnostic applications. Another topic is the evaluation of the potential added value of hybrid imaging with SPECT/CT and PET/CT scanners. Since 2010, he has been researcher, focusing the attention on prostate cancer imaging with PET/CT and  potential applications of PET/MRI in neurology and neuro-oncology, particularly at the Italian National Research Council, using a multidisciplinary network approach. He is currently exploring the role of advanced hybrid imaging with SPECT/CT and PET/CT in oncology and neurology, at the national public Hospital “Mariano Santo” in Cosenza, Italy. The author of over 50 scientific papers listed in PubMed, he has also served as a reviewer for the major specialized scientific journals of nuclear medicine and radiology. 

Prof. Orazio Schillaci graduated with a degree in Medicine in 1990 and specialized in Nuclear Medicine in 19942 at the University of Rome “La Sapienza.” He began his scientific work at the University of L’Aquila: during this important period, Schillaci started exploring molecular imaging, with an emphasis on SPECT for neuroendocrine tumors. After a research stay in California, USA, he became a Professor of Nuclear Medicine at the University of Rome “Tor Vergata” in 2001. Since 2008 he has led the School of Specialization in Nuclear Medicine and, since 2013, has been Director of the School Of Medicine at the “Tor Vergata” University Hospital in Rome. The author of more than 220 scientific articles listed in PubMed, his current research interest is in the development of novel PET radiopharmaceuticals and their potential clinical applications in oncology,neurology, cardiology and infectious disease, within a network involving several Italian and European institutions. He is also the former President of the Italian Association of Nuclear Medicine.