PET Imaging of Hypoxia

Hypoxia imaging has applications in functional recovery in ischemic events such as stroke and myocardial ischemia, but especially in tumors in which hypoxia can be predictive of treatment response and overall prognosis. Recently, there has been development of imaging agents using PET for non-invasive imaging of hypoxia. Many of these PET agents have come to the forefront of hypoxia imaging. Halogenated PET nitroimidazole imaging agents labeled with 18F (t1/2 = 110 m) and 124I (t1/2 = 110 m) have been under investigation for the last 25 years, with radiometal agents (64Cu-ATSM) being developed more recently. This article focuses on these PET imaging agents for hypoxia.