Seminars in musculoskeletal radiology
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This article reviews the evolution of whole-body imaging, discussing the history and development of radiography, nuclear medicine, computed tomography (CT), positron emission tomography (PET), combined PET-CT, and magnetic resonance imaging. The obstacles hindering progress toward whole-body imaging using each of these modalities, and the technical advances that were developed to overcome them, are reviewed. The effectiveness and the limitations of whole-body imaging with each of these techniques are also briefly discussed.
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This article outlines the expanding approaches to whole-body imaging in oncology focusing on whole-body MRI and comparing it to emerging applications of whole-body CT, scintigraphy, and above all PET CT imaging. Whole-body MRI is widely available, non-ionizing and rapidly acquired, and inexpensive relative to PET CT. While it has many advantages, WBMRI is non-specific and, when compared to PET CT, is less sensitive. This article expands each of these issues comparing individual modalities as they refer to specific cancers.
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Semin Musculoskelet Radiol · Mar 2010
ReviewTargeted contrast agents--an adjunct to whole-body imaging: current concepts.
This article reviews the potential use of a combination of whole-body imaging and targeted contrast agents in improving diagnostics, with a particular focus on oncology imaging. It looks at the rationale for nanoparticles and their development as targeted contrast agents. It subsequently describes many of the advances made thus far in developing tissue-specific contrast agents capable of targeting tumors that combined with whole-body imaging may enable superior cancer detection and characterization.