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Functional and Molecular Imaging Using Positron Emission Tomography

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Frontiers in Biomedical Engineering

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Abstract

Positron emission tomography (PET) is a nuclear medicine imaging method in which radioisotopes are employed to label biochemical substrates for use as tracers to follow function and physiology inside living bodies. Its role as an important medical diagnostic imaging tool has been broadly accepted. More recently, its use as a basic biological imaging tool for study of fundamental biomedical processes in laboratories is being developed rapidly. PET technology involves production of radioisotopes using compact cyclotron, capture of photons by scintillation detectors or their comparable devices, processes of converting photons into electrical signals and in tum image data, reconstruction of images from projections, physiological modeling, image analysis, and applications in routine medical practice and in laboratory sciences. Recent advances in computing and detector technologies have made PET imaging quantitatively more reliable with high image quality. PET has become an important molecular imaging probe for assessing functional and physiological information at the cellular and molecular level. Examples of its use as a molecular imaging technology include clinical diagnosis and monitoring of responses to treatments, brain mapping, genetic studies, and drug discovery and assessment.

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  1. Department of Radiology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

    Chin-Tu Chen Ph.D.

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  1. Chin-Tu Chen Ph.D.
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  2. Malcolm Cooper Kao Chien-Min
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  1. Division of Medical Engineering Research, National Health Research Institutes, Taipei, Taiwan

    Ned H. C. Hwang

  2. Musculoskeletal Research Center, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

    Savio L.-Y. Woo

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Chen, CT. et al. (2003). Functional and Molecular Imaging Using Positron Emission Tomography. In: Hwang, N.H.C., Woo, S.LY. (eds) Frontiers in Biomedical Engineering. Topics in Biomedical Engineering International Book Series. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-8967-3_19

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