Reduction of the cardiotoxicity of doxorubicin: demonstration by in vivo imaging with bispecific antibody/radiolabeled negatively charged polymers.

• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2047/d20002959

ECG and serum CK-MB (creatinine kinase) or cardiac troponin analyses are the routine tests for the diagnosis of myocardial necrosis. Borderline CK-MB elevations and uninterpretable ECGs are common emergency room encounters. Elevation of troponin levels do not occur until about 6 hours after the onset of chest pain. Additional complications occur in patients who are brought to the hospital days after the onset of chest pain. These in vitro laboratory tests can not distinguish between new and old infarcts besides they do not provide information on infarct size as is the case with non-Q wave myocardial infarction where infarct size is usually small. Endomyocardial biopsy is not performed for diagnosis of myocardial infarction due to the invasiveness of the procedure. Coronary angiography has been widely used for evaluating the anatomical features of coronary arteries. This technique can establish the severity of coronary stenosis and wall motion abnormality but it is an invasive method. Additionally, out of the 1.5 million cases reported for acute myocardial infarction, 1/3rd of the cases are usually misdiagnosed by the above mentioned traditional methods. For such cases, noninvasive imaging tests coupled with very low non-target back ground activity would be preferable. In addition, diagnosis of cardiomyopathies such as myocarditis, doxorubicin cardiotoxicity and heart transplant rejection require endomyocardial biopsy as the Gold Standard for diagnosis.