Patent ID: 7879314

Claim:
A method for the diagnosis of an inflammatory disease of a joint comprising (i) administering to a subject a diagnostically effective amount of (a) an indocarbocyanine dye of formula (I) wherein C stands for a radical (II) or (III) wherein the position that is labelled with the star means the point of linkage with radical A and wherein A stands for a group (IV), (V), (VI), (VII), or (VIII) wherein R 1 and R 2 , independently of one another, stand for a C 1 -C 4 -sulfoalkyl chain or a saturated or unsaturated, branched or straight-chain C 1 -C 50 -alkyl chain, which optionally is substituted by 0 to 15 oxygen atoms and/or by 0 to 3 carbonyl groups and/or with 0 to 5 hydroxyl groups or optionally interrupted by 0 to 15 oxygen atoms and/or by 0 to 3 carbonyl groups and/or can be substituted with 0 to 5 hydroxyl groups; R 3 stands for a straight-chain carbohydrate chain with up to 20 carbon residues, which is substituted with one or more —OH, —COOH, —SO 3 groups and/or optionally interrupted one or more times by —O—, —S—, —CO—, —CS—, —CONH, —NHCO—, NHCSNH—, —SO 2 —, —PO 4 31 —, -aryl- and/or —NH— group; R 4 stands for the group —COOE 1 , —CONE 1 E 2 , —NHCOE 1 , —NHCONHE 1 , —NE 1 E 2 , —OE 1 , —OSO 3 E 1 , —SO 3 E 1 , —SO 2 NHE 1 or -E 1 , wherein E 1 and E 2 , independently of one another, stand for a hydrogen atom, a C 1 -C 4 -sulfoalkyl chain, a saturated or unsaturated, branched or straight-chain C 1 -C 50 -alkyl chain, which optionally is interrupted by 0 to 15 oxygen atoms and/or by 0 to 3 carbonyl groups and/or is substituted with 0 to 5 hydroxyl groups; R 5 stands for a hydrogen atom, or a fluorine, chlorine, bromine or iodine atom, methyl, ethyl, propyl or iso-propyl; b means the number 2 or 3; and X and Y, independently of one another, stand for O, S, ═C(CH 3 ) 2 or—(CH═CH)—, or a salt or solvate of thereof or (b) an indocarbocyanine dye which is Cy7, indocyanine green (ICG), an analog of ICG, or indotricarbocyanine (ITC), wherein no targeting moiety is attached to the dye (a) or (b), (ii) exposing the joint to be imaged to light of a wavelength between 700 nm and 900 nm and (iii) measuring fluorescence at multiple time points within 500 seconds after administration of said dye, wherein the distribution of said indocarbocyanine dye in the joint regions suspected of having inflammation is indicative of the presence of inflammatory joint disease.