Cardiovascular Molecular Imaging With Fluorine-19 MRI: The Road to the Clinic

Ruud B van Heeswijk; Wolfgang R Bauer; Florian Bönner; Jelena M Janjic; Willem J M Mulder; Laura M Schreiber; Juerg Schwitter; Ulrich Flögel

doi:10.1161/CIRCIMAGING.123.014742

Cardiovascular Molecular Imaging With Fluorine-19 MRI: The Road to the Clinic

Circ Cardiovasc Imaging. 2023 Sep;16(9):e014742. doi: 10.1161/CIRCIMAGING.123.014742. Epub 2023 Sep 19.

Authors

Ruud B van Heeswijk¹, Wolfgang R Bauer², Florian Bönner³, Jelena M Janjic⁴, Willem J M Mulder^{5

6}, Laura M Schreiber⁷, Juerg Schwitter^{8

9

10}, Ulrich Flögel^{11

12}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Radiology, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) and University of Lausanne (UNIL), Switzerland (R.B.v.H.).
² Department of Internal Medicine I, Universitätsklinikum Würzburg, Germany (W.R.B.).
³ Department of Cardiology, Pulmonology, and Vascular Medicine, Medical Faculty of Heinrich Heine University, University Hospital Düsseldorf, Germany (F.B.).
⁴ Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA (J.M.J.).
⁵ Laboratory of Chemical Biology, Department of Biochemical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands (W.J.M.M.).
⁶ Department of Internal Medicine and Radboud Center for Infectious Diseases, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, the Netherlands (W.J.M.M.).
⁷ Chair of Molecular and Cellular Imaging, Comprehensive Heart Failure Center (CHFC), Wuerzburg University Hospitals, Germany (L.M.S.).
⁸ Division of Cardiology, Cardiovascular Department (J.S.), Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV), Switzerland.
⁹ CMR Center (J.S.), Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV), Switzerland.
¹⁰ Faculty of Biology and Medicine, University of Lausanne (UNIL), Switzerland (J.S.).
¹¹ Experimental Cardiovascular Imaging (U.F.), Heinrich Heine University, Germany.
¹² Cardiovascular Research Institute Düsseldorf (CARID) (U.F.), Heinrich Heine University, Germany.

PMID: 37725674
DOI: 10.1161/CIRCIMAGING.123.014742

Abstract

Fluorine-19 (¹⁹F) magnetic resonance imaging is a unique quantitative molecular imaging modality that makes use of an injectable fluorine-containing tracer that generates the only visible ¹⁹F signal in the body. This hot spot imaging technique has recently been used to characterize a wide array of cardiovascular diseases and seen a broad range of technical improvements. Concurrently, its potential to be translated to the clinical setting is being explored. This review provides an overview of this emerging field and demonstrates its diagnostic potential, which shows promise for clinical translation. We will describe ¹⁹F magnetic resonance imaging hardware, pulse sequences, and tracers, followed by an overview of cardiovascular applications. Finally, the challenges on the road to clinical translation are discussed.

Keywords: cardiovascular disease; cell tracking; fluorine-19; inflammation; magnetic resonance imaging; thrombosis; translational research, biomedical.

Publication types

Review
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Cardiovascular Diseases* / diagnostic imaging
Cardiovascular System* / diagnostic imaging
Fluorine
Humans
Molecular Imaging

Substances

Fluorine