title: Molecular imaging of tumor angiogenesis.
abstract: Advances in imaging provide new insights into the pathophysiology of many diseases. Established imaging technologies such as MRI, CT, PET, and ultrasound are routinely applied to determine features of tumor blood vessels that distinguish them from normal blood vessels. These techniques yield information on blood flow, blood volume, and vessel permeability. Often, an intravenously injected imaging contrast agent without affinity to a specific target structure is applied to enable detection of malignant lesions. One of the emerging innovations in diagnostic imaging is the evolution of molecular imaging techniques. Molecular imaging is a noninvasive approach to determine the expression of indicative marker molecules of the tumor angiogenesis process. Meanwhile, this approach has been established for all imaging modalities and may further improve sensitivity of diagnostic tumor imaging. Another goal is to provide information with respect to drug treatment monitoring and therapeutic vascular targeting strategies.
authors.affiliation: Schering Research Laboratories, Schering AG, Berlin, Germany. michael.schirner@schering.de
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schirner
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Menrad
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stephens
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Frenzel
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hauff
authors.forename: Kai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Licha
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D009389:Neovascularization, Pathologic / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014463:Ultrasonography