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PET-MRI for the Study of Metabolic Bone Disease

  • Imaging (T Lang and F Wehrli, Section Editors)
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Abstract

Purpose of Review

This review article attempts to summarize the current state and applications of the hybrid imaging modality of PET-MRI to metabolic bone diseases. The advances of PET and MRI are also discussed for metabolic bone diseases as potentially applied via PET-MRI.

Recent Findings

Etiologies and mechanisms of metabolic bone disease can be complex where molecular changes precede structural changes. Although PET-MRI has yet to be applied directly to metabolic bone disease, possible applications exist since PET, specifically 18F-NaF PET, can quantitatively track changes in bone metabolism and is useful for assessing treatment, while MRI can give detailed information on bone water concentration, porosity, and architecture through novel techniques such as UTE and ZTE MRI.

Summary

Earlier detection and further understanding of metabolic bone disease via PET and MRI could lead to better treatment and prevention. More research using this modality is needed to further understand how it can be implemented in this realm.

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Correspondence to Garry E. Gold.

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Conflict of Interest

James Yoder, Feliks Kogan and Garry Gold report grants from GE Healthcare and the NIH during the conduct of this study.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

Disclosure Statement

The authors receive research support from GE Healthcare.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Imaging

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Yoder, J.S., Kogan, F. & Gold, G.E. PET-MRI for the Study of Metabolic Bone Disease. Curr Osteoporos Rep 16, 665–673 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11914-018-0482-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11914-018-0482-4

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