Preclinical and Translational PET/MR Imaging.
Combined PET and MR imaging (PET/MR imaging) has progressed tremendously in recent years. The focus of current research has shifted from technologic challenges to the application of this new multimodal imaging technology in the areas of oncology, cardiology, neurology, and infectious diseases. This article reviews studies in preclinical and clinical translation. The common theme of these initial results is the complementary nature of combined PET/MR imaging that often provides additional insights into biologic systems that were not clearly feasible with just one modality alone. However, in vivo findings require ex vivo validation. Combined PET/MR imaging also triggers a multitude of new developments in image analysis that are aimed at merging and using multimodal information that ranges from better tumor characterization to analysis of metabolic brain networks. The combination of connectomics information that maps brain networks derived from multiparametric MR data with metabolic information from PET can even lead to the formation of a new research field that we would call cometomics that would map functional and metabolic brain networks. These new methodologic developments also call for more multidisciplinarity in the field of molecular imaging, in which close interaction and training among clinicians and a variety of scientists is needed.
Werner Siemens Imaging Center, Department for Preclinical Imaging and Radiopharmacy, Eberhard Karls University Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany hans.wehrl@med.uni-tuebingen.de.
Hans F
HF
Wehrl
Werner Siemens Imaging Center, Department for Preclinical Imaging and Radiopharmacy, Eberhard Karls University Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany.
Stefan
S
Wiehr
Werner Siemens Imaging Center, Department for Preclinical Imaging and Radiopharmacy, Eberhard Karls University Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany.
Mathew R
MR
Divine
Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Eberhard Karls University Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany.
Sergios
S
Gatidis
Department of Radiotracer Development and Imaging Technology, Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California; and.
Grant T
GT
Gullberg
Werner Siemens Imaging Center, Department for Preclinical Imaging and Radiopharmacy, Eberhard Karls University Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany.
Florian C
FC
Maier
Werner Siemens Imaging Center, Department for Preclinical Imaging and Radiopharmacy, Eberhard Karls University Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany.
Anna-Maria
AM
Rolle
Werner Siemens Imaging Center, Department for Preclinical Imaging and Radiopharmacy, Eberhard Karls University Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany Department of Nuclear Medicine, Eberhard Karls University Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany.
Johannes
J
Schwenck
Werner Siemens Imaging Center, Department for Preclinical Imaging and Radiopharmacy, Eberhard Karls University Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Eberhard Karls University Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany.
Wolfgang M
WM
Thaiss
Werner Siemens Imaging Center, Department for Preclinical Imaging and Radiopharmacy, Eberhard Karls University Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany.
Bernd J
BJ
Pichler
PET/MRI; cardiology; connectomics; neurology; oncology