Multimodality Molecular Imaging with Combined Optical and SPECT/PET Modalities
Joseph Culver 1,
Walter Akers 1,
and
Samuel Achilefu 1*
1 Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: achilefus{at}mir.wustl.edu.
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Abstract |
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Today's medical imaging technologies are expected to furnish anatomical, physiological, molecular, and genomic information for accurate disease diagnosis, prediction of treatment response, and development of highly specific and sensitive drugs and imaging agents. However, none of the current imaging methods used in humans provides comprehensive medical imaging. To harness the strengths of different imaging methods, multimodality imaging has become an attractive strategy for in vivo studies. Beyond small animal imaging, a less utilized multimodal imaging strategy is the fusion of radionuclear with optical methods. This is probably due to some misconceptions, technical difficulties, or lack of appreciation for the benefits of the two methods in patient management. This review will address some of these concerns, with emphasis on the potential applications of multimodality optical-SPECT/PET systems.
