LW223 (PET scanning technology)

2023: Technology Announcement

At the end of January 2023, a tool called a LW223 for a positron emission tomograph for scanning to detect inflammation was presented. Researchers received just under $2.5 million to test it.

The new positron emission tomograph (PET) is LW223 the first radioactive substance not affected by rs6971 polymorphism, a genetic mutation in humans that has so far limited the effectiveness of inflammation imaging to approximately 40% of the population. PET scans involve injecting a tiny amount of radioactive compounds called radio trackers into the body, which transmit signals to an extremely sensitive camera, allowing doctors to better assess the symptoms of the disease.

A tool called the Positron Emission Tomograph Scan LW223 for Inflammation Detection is presented

Since inflammation is present in a variety of diseases as of January 2023, including heart attacks, strokes, brain tumors and cancer, the ability to see it is crucial for the diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of most diseases. Tracer LW223 contains fluoride as a radioactive element that, having a physical half-life of about 2 hours, can be transported between medical facilities, making it immediately clinically and commercially viable, which cannot be said of other radioactive elements such as Carbon-11.

Following successful human tissue trials in January 2023, a team of specialists from the University of Edinburgh, working in conjunction with the University of Glasgow and industrial partner Life Molecular Imaging (LMI), received $2.5 million from the Medical Research Council to test the tool on healthy volunteers and patients who had a heart attack.

As of January 26, 2023, blood tests provide only indirect information about what is happening inside the organ, and the biopsy is invasive and can give false negative results. It is the first fluorinated PET tracer since 1980 to be able to bind to a human translocator protein regardless of the rs6971 polymorphism, according to lead researcher Dr Adrian Tavares of the Centre for Cardiovascular Sciences at the University of Edinburgh.^[1]

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