Multimodal pet/mri contrast agent and a process for the synthesis thereof

A process of synthesizing a multimodal PET (positron emission tomography)/MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) contrast agent comprising:

• contacting a surface of a magnetic signal generating core with a functionalizing solution to form an inner layer at least partially over said magnetic signal generating core to define a functionalized surface;
• contacting said functionalized surface with a sensitizing solution containing at least a source of bivalent tin ions to form a tin-sensitized surface;
• contacting said tin-sensitized surface with an activator solution containing at least a source of precious metal ions to form a precious metal-activated surface;
• and
• contacting said precious metal-activated surface with an electroless plating solution containing at least a source of radionuclide ions and a reducing and/or hydrolyzing agent to treat said radionuclide ions to form an electrolessly plated layer of said radionuclide on the precious metal-activated surface.

A method of imaging a region of interest in a patient using multimodal PET/MRI imaging, the method comprising:

• administering to a patient a pharmaceutical formulation comprising a multimodal PET (positron emission tomography)/MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) contrast agent as claimed in claim 1;
• detecting arrival of the multimodal PET/MRI contrast agent present in the formulation in the region of interest by comparing the PET and/or MRI signals in said region of interest during or after administering said formulation;
• collecting PET and MRI image data of the region of interest;
• and
• constructing a multimodal PET/MRI image of said region of interest using the PET and MRI image data, wherein the region of interest appears distinct from the background tissue.