Positron Emission Tomography in the Era of Precision Medicine: FDG and Beyond
A special issue of Diagnostics (ISSN 2075-4418). This special issue belongs to the section "Medical Imaging and Theranostics".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2022) | Viewed by 12584
Special Issue Editors
2. IRCCS Ospedale Policlinico San Martino, 16132 Genoa, Italy
Interests: imaging biomarkers; brain PET and SPECT; neurodegenerative diseases; molecular imaging in oncology; lymphomas; theragnostic
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: imaging biomarkers; positron emission tomography; nuclear neurology; prostate cancer; nuclear cardiology; theranostics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
18F-Fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG)-based positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) has become the state-of-the-art radionuclide imaging technique in clinical oncology. At present, more than 95% of PET studies worldwide in oncologic patients are performed using this tracer. Similarly, it has become increasingly important to characterize specific biological features of cancer at a single patient level in order to select more precise targeted therapies that will deliver rational and efficient cancer control (so-called “precision medicine”). In the era of precision medicine, numerous new anticancer agents, such as molecular targeted agents and immune checkpoint inhibitors, have been developed to improve outcomes in cancer patients. FDG PET imaging plays a key role in evaluating the effects of these novel treatments because it can detect changes in the metabolic activity of tumors before any reduction in their size is visible on other imaging modalities. Accordingly, FDG PET is of prognostic as well as diagnostic value and allows quick changes in patient management. However, despite the excellent clinical performance of FDG as a cancer-imaging PET agent in several onco-/hematological disorders, false positive and false negative results can be observed in specific cases. Radiopharmaceutical development has thus focused on research for new PET tracers that could complement or replace FDG in such settings. Thanks to the introduction of non-FDG PET tracers into clinical practice, molecular imaging allows in vivo characterization and measurement of biological processes at the cellular and molecular level, or the expression and activity of specific target molecules (e.g., enzymes and cell surface receptors) as well as biological processes (e.g., non-glucose metabolism), improving early detection, risk stratification, and assessing accumulation of the drug in the lesion, an approach known as theranostics.
The aim of this Special Issue of Diagnostics is to provide a comprehensive update on the emerging role of molecular imaging in the context of precision medicine with a particular focus on clinical oncology. However, given the increasing applications of precision medicine approaches in non-oncological fields in which molecular imaging may play a role, these topics will also be considered eligible for the present Special Issue.
Dr. Silvia Morbelli
Dr. Matteo Bauckneht
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- Positron emission tomography
- 18F-Fluorodeoxyglucose
- Non-FDG PET tracers
- Precision medicine
- Prognosis
- Risk stratification
- Early detection
- Evaluation of response
- Theranostics
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