Fig. 4.

The safety and clinical application of cell tracking with SPIO was evaluated using human pancreatic islets which were transplanted into 4 patients after labeling with Endorem^®, a clinical SPIO formulation. Compared to MR images obtained prior to transplantation, several hypointensities (black arrows) were detected within 5 days of transplantation and persisted for 6 weeks in Patient 1 and Patient 3; and as long as 6 months in Patient 4. This figure demonstrates the ability of MR imaging to detect variability in disease between patients as well as variability in graft survival and immunorejection. Reproduced, with permission, from Ref. [69].