Beta-Cell Imaging: Opportunities and Limitations/REPLY

[...] the high concentration of such compounds will result in significant radiation toxicity to the ß-cells. [...] we believe it is ill conceived that ß-cell imaging in me native pancreas be considered feasible with me technologies available today However, the contrary is true for imaging the fate of transplanted pancreatic islets. The high concentration of ß-cells at a known location and the opportunity to perform partial- volume correction of acquired PET data (3,4) make it possible to calculate the exact standardized uptake value at this site. Besides radiolabeled DTBZ, which was discussed by Ichise and Harris (l), other promising PET radiotracers for ß-cell imaging, including ^sup 18^F-L-dihydroxyphenaline (6) and sulfonylurea receptor ligands (7), deserve further investigation. [...] we agree that ^sup 18^F-FDG PET is an excellent method for tracking the viability of transplanted islet cells in the subcutaneous space.