Molecular imaging techniques in body imaging.

Molecular imaging of the body involves new techniques to image cellular biochemical processes, which results in studies with high sensitivity, specificity, and signal-to-background. The most prevalently used molecular imaging technique in body imaging is currently fluorine 18 fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET). FDG PET has become the method of choice for the staging and restaging of many of the most common cancers, including lymphoma, lung cancer, breast cancer, and colorectal cancer. FDG PET has also become extremely valuable in monitoring the response to therapeutic drugs in many cancers. New PET agents, such as fluorothymidine and acetate, have also shown promise in the evaluation of response to therapy and in the staging of prostate cancer. Magnetic resonance (MR) spectroscopy has shown promise in the evaluation of prostate cancer. Breast cancer evaluation benefits from advances in spectroscopic imaging and contrast-enhanced kinetic evaluation of vascular permeability, which is altered in neoplastic processes because of release of angiogenic factors. Superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) particles represent the first of an expanding line of MR contrast agents that target specific cellular processes. SPIO particles have also been used in the evaluation of the cirrhotic liver and at MR lymphangiography.