Radionuclide detection of blood-retinal barrier disruption in diabetes mellitus

Journal Article · Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1984 · Semin. Nucl. Med.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S0001-2998(84)80051-3· OSTI ID:7191715

Freeman, M L; Barnes, W E; Eastman, G; Evans, L; Gergans, G; Kelertas, A; Emanuele, N; Kaplan, E

Diabetic retinopathy is one of the leading causes of blindness in the United States today. Because early treatment of proliferative retinopathy offers the best chance for visual salvation, there is an essential need for methods of identifying eyes at high risk. Recent research has shown that subclinical leakage from retinal blood vessels is one of the earliest signs of retinopathy. The feasibility of using radionuclide techniques to quantitate blood-retinal barrier disruption is demonstrated by a study in which 23 diabetics and 7 nondiabetics were imaged with an Anger camera in the anterior Waters projection at 2 hours after the administration of Tc-99m DTPA. In the digitized images, regions of interest were placed over each orbit and over one of the cerebral hemispheres. Orbital counts were then compared to cerebral counts on a per pixel basis. Eye to brain ratios were found to be lowest for nondiabetics and highest for patients with proliferative retinopathy. Additionally, the dynamic analysis of the same radiopharmaceutical may allow investigators to further study the pathophysiology of the diabetic eye.

• Research Organization: Nuclear Medicine Service, Edward Hines, Jr. United States Veterans Administration Hospital, Hines, IL
• OSTI ID: 7191715
• Journal Information: Semin. Nucl. Med.; (United States), Vol. 14:1
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE
BLOOD-BRAIN BARRIER
PATHOLOGICAL CHANGES
RETINA
DIABETES MELLITUS
DIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUES
DTPA
ISOMERIC NUCLEI
PATIENTS
RADIOISOTOPE SCANNING
TECHNETIUM 99
AMINO ACIDS
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BODY
BODY AREAS
CARBOXYLIC ACIDS
CHELATING AGENTS
COUNTING TECHNIQUES
DISEASES
DRUGS
ENDOCRINE DISEASES
EYES
FACE
HEAD
HOURS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
INTERMEDIATE MASS NUCLEI
ISOMERIC TRANSITION ISOTOPES
ISOTOPES
METABOLIC DISEASES
NUCLEI
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
ORGANIC ACIDS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANS
RADIOISOTOPES
RADIOPROTECTIVE SUBSTANCES
SENSE ORGANS
TECHNETIUM ISOTOPES
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
550601* - Medicine- Unsealed Radionuclides in Diagnostics