New Agent Enables PET Scans to Find Blood Clots

Posted by petctlascolinas on October 18th, 2015

Hidden blood clots have long been the bane of doctors trying to save the lives of patients suffering from stroke or a pulmonary embolism. While some radiology techniques have enabled the detection of clots located in particular parts of the body, finding those hidden, and often deadly, clots has been a real problem. Until now, that is.

Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital have created a new agent that enables, with the use of whole-body PET scans, doctors to find clots anywhere in the body. The agent when used with a whole-body scan may also be able to help doctors distinguish older clots from new ones and better determine the composition of a clot. Knowing the composition is vital for determining if clot-dissolving treatments will work.

The breakthrough technology involves the use of a probe known as 64Cu-FBP8. This agent is able in a single dose to allow PET scans to pick up clots in all locations of the body when a whole-body scan is performed. This speeds up diagnosis while also enabling more precise actions to battle the clots and potentially save lives. Current techniques often call for multiple scans, which slows the diagnosis process down.

Blood clots are a leading cause of illness and death. Although many can often be dissolved if detected, seeing them has been problematic in the past. The new agent is hoped to change all this.

While 64Cu shows a great deal of promise, there is still work to be done before it can be brought to market. Researchers have only tested in on a limited basis to date. The next step, researchers say, is to run trials using human patients to better understand how the probe travels through the body and how long it remains after injection. How soon those trials will be conducted remains unclear, but the hope is to further research related to this potentially life-saving technique as soon as possible.

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PET / CT of Las Colinas was developed with both patients and physicians in mind and our services have been used for various types of disease; primarily in detecting, staging and monitoring cancer, but also in heart disease and brain disorders.