title: Potential Clinical Applications of PET/MR Imaging in Neurodegenerative Diseases.
abstract: Neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer disease are among today's most alarming health problems in our aging society. The clinical assessment of neurodegenerative disorders benefits from recent innovations in the field of imaging technology. These innovations include emerging tracers for molecular imaging of neurodegenerative pathology and the introduction of novel integrated PET/MR imaging instruments. Because both PET and MR imaging procedures have shown critical value in the diagnostic work-up of neurodegenerative disorders, the combination of both imaging modalities in the form of an integrated PET/MR imaging system may be of value. This combination includes practical methodologic advantages and an improved workflow facilitated by the combined acquisition of dual-modality data. It offers clinical advantages because of the systematic combination of complementary information, potentially allowing the creation of novel integrated imaging biomarkers. The effectiveness of new disease-modifying treatments may depend on the timely initiation of therapy before irreversible neuronal damage in slowly progressive neurodegenerative disorders. Integrated PET/MR imaging may be able to improve such early diagnosis through both structural and functional information.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany alexander.drzezga@uk-koeln.de.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Drzezga
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Henryk
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Barthel
authors.affiliation: Division of Nuclear Medicine and Radiology, University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle, WA.
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Minoshima
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Osama
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Sabri
keywords: MR/PET; PET/MR; dementia; hybrid imaging; neurodegeneration