European journal of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging
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Hybrid imaging is now widely accepted in cancer imaging with increasing use of PET/CT in clinical practice. The advantages of MRI compared to CT with respect to radiation exposure and soft-tissue lesion contrast, as well as the possibility of performing more sophisticated assessment of tissue chemistry, have stimulated interest in the development of hybrid PET/MR imaging systems. ⋯ To realize the unique potential advantages of combined PET/MRI, we believe that PET/MRI devices should be designed to be a complementary tool running in parallel with PET/CT. The use of PET/CT for whole-body screening could identify lesions requiring more detailed anatomical and biological characterization. Selection of only those patients and those lesions for which this information is critical for treatment selection and planning will provide efficient and easily justified use of what will, for the foreseeable future, be an expensive and limited resource.
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Eur. J. Nucl. Med. Mol. Imaging · Mar 2009
ReviewMultimodality imaging: an update on PET/CT technology.
Since their introduction in 2001, PET/CT systems have gained wide acceptance primarily due to their inherent ability to combine functional and structural information about the underlying disease state of the patient in a single imaging session. Their significance has also been documented with regard to their short imaging times, which minimize patient anxiety and image blurring due to patient motion. In the past seven years, PET/CT systems have replaced dedicated PET systems as the imaging modality of choice for diagnostic evaluation of oncology patients. ⋯ Recent improvements in instrumentation are highlighted together with some outstanding issues that arise for specific PET/CT applications. These are followed by a description of some of the more common clinical applications of PET/CT imaging such as staging malignant disease, treatment planning, and monitoring therapy response. Finally, the future developments of PET/CT systems with regard to sensitivity, resolution, and new radiopharmaceuticals are discussed. The article concludes by presenting some issues concerning the next stage in the future of PET imaging, namely PET/MRI.