Abstract
In this review article, we present arguments demonstrating that the advent of high sensitivity total-body PET systems and the invention of the method of positronium imaging, open realistic perspectives for the application of positronium as a biomarker for in-vivo assessment of the degree of hypoxia. Hypoxia is a state or condition, in which the availability of oxygen is not sufficient to support physiological processes in tissue and organs. Positronium is a metastable atom formed from electron and positron which is copiously produced in the intramolecular spaces in the living organisms undergoing positron emission tomography (PET). Properties of positronium, such as e.g., lifetime, depend on the size of intramolecular spaces and the concentration in them of oxygen molecules. Therefore, information on the partial pressure of oxygen (pO2) in the tissue may be derived from the positronium lifetime measurement. The partial pressure of oxygen differs between healthy and cancer tissues in the range from 10 to 50 mmHg. Such differences of pO2 result in the change of ortho-positronium lifetime e.g., in water by about 2–7 ps. Thus, the application of positronium as a biomarker of hypoxia requires the determination of the mean positronium lifetime with the resolution in the order of 2 ps. We argue that such resolution is in principle achievable for organ-wise positronium imaging with the total-body PET systems.
Funding source: Foundation for Polish Science
Award Identifier / Grant number: TEAM POIR.04.04.00-00-4204/17
Funding source: National Science Centre of Poland
Award Identifier / Grant number: 2019/33/B/NZ3/01004
Funding source: Jagiellonian University
Award Identifier / Grant number: CRP/0641.221.2020
Acknowledgments
We thank H. Karimi, Sz. Parzych, D. Kumar and Dr. E. Kubicz for help with preparation of figures.
Research funding: We acknowledge support by the Foundation for Polish Science through the TEAM POIR.04.04.00-00-4204/17 program and the National Science Centre of Poland through grant no. 2019/33/B/NZ3/01004 and the Jagiellonian University via project CRP/0641.221.2020.
Author contributions: All authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.
Competing interests: Authors state no conflict of interest.
Informed consent: Informed consent was obtained from all individuals included in this study.
Ethical approval: The local Institutional Review Board deemed the study exempt from review.
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