Multimodality Molecular Imaging – An Overview With Special Focus on PET/CT

Imaging capabilities have evolved from those that provide anatomical pictures to those that capture functional information and, more recently, molecular information (nuclear medicine, PET, SPECT, PET/CT, SPECT/CT, MRS, contrast-enhanced ultrasound, fluorescence and bioluminescence imaging). Multimodality imaging has emerged as a technology that utilizes the strengths of different modalities and yields a hybrid imaging platform with benefits superior to those of any of its individual components, considered alone. Leading edge hybrid imaging (combining multiple, complementary imaging technologies such as PET and CT) offer unique opportunities to “view” the molecular biology of disease, and the use of this equipment is on the rise.