Evidence-based PET for infectious and inflammatory diseases

Abstract

Nuclear medicine techniques are non-invasive tools that can early detect pathophysiological changes in affected tissues in patients with inflammatory or infectious diseases. These changes usually occur before clinical onset of symptoms and before the development of anatomical changes detected by radiological techniques [1, 2]. Currently, hybrid imaging techniques as positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) may provide functional and morphological information for early diagnosis of infectious and inflammatory diseases [1, 2].