Painted radioluminescence imaging with radioluminescent nanophosphors

Optical strategies like Cerenkov luminescence imaging (CLI) or radioluminescence imaging (RLI) to image clinically available positron emission tomography and single photon emission computed tomography probes still suffer from low sensitivity or resolution. This study investigated a painted radioluminescence imaging (PRLI) approach that employed a painted scintillator to improve signal and resolution for imaging clinical used ¹⁸F-fluorinated deoxyribose (¹⁸F-FDG). Results of phantom and in vivo experiments revealed that PRLI could achieve ∼100 times higher signal intensity than CLI and higher resolution compared to Flexible radioluminescence imaging (FRLI), a flexible scintillation-based RLI. PRLI increased signal-to-background ratio in the pseudotumor model by 81.8% (compared to CLI) and 73.9% (compared to FRLI) as well as in the tumor model by 60.0% (compared to CLI) and 33.3% (compared to FRLI). As a conclusion, PRLI is a more effective optical approach for detecting tumors using ¹⁸F-FDG.