Molecular Imaging
Nuclear imaging, also called molecular imaging, includes positron emission computed tomography (PET) and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging. This section includes radiopharmaceuticals and tracers, PET-CT, SPECT-CT, and PET-MRI. Molecular imaging includes the field of nuclear medicine, which uses very small amounts of radioactive materials, or radiopharmaceuticals, to diagnose and treat disease.

IMAGE OF THE YEAR: PSMA PET before and after lutetium-177 PSMA617 theranostics in 8 patients with metastatic prostate cancer who exhausted standard therapeutic options.
68Ga-PSMA11 PET maximum intensity projection (MIP) images at baseline and 3 months after 177Lu-PSMA617 in 8 patients with PSA decline ≥ 98 percent in a prospective phase II study. Any disease with SUV over 3 is in red. Credit: Michael Hofman, John Violet, Shahneen Sandhu, Justin Ferdinandus, Amir Iravani, Grace Kong, Aravind Ravi Kumar, Tim Akhurst, Sue Ping Thang, Price Jackson, Mark Scalzo, Scott Williams and Rodney Hicks, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Australia.

Staging F18FDG PET/CT images of adenocarcinoma in the RUL (right upper lobe) of the lung illustrates the value of Vereos. The primary lesion in the right upper lobe appears in the upper row (PET image is left, CT image is right). A 3 mm synchronous primary or metastatic lesion in the RUL is apparent in the lower row. The precision afforded by Vereos' images provided the basis for the patient to undergo RUL lobectomy instead of thermal ablation of the primary lesion. (Images courtesy of Dr. Jay Kikut and UVMC)

Nuclear imaging scan showing very good tissue delineation. It offers crisp overall image quality and sharply delineates the muscle and fat planes, vertebral margins and end plates, billiary radicals, renal calyces, aortic wall and papillary muscles of the heart. Scan performed on a Biograph Vision positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET-CT) system from Siemens Healthineers.

Coronal 18F-FEDAC PET/CT section of a mouse with collagen-induced arthritis. (A) On day 23 and day 37, increased uptake is noted in the front and hind paws of this mouse with collagen-induced arthritis. (B) Predictive performance of day 23 18F-FEDAC uptake for the development of clinical arthritis. ROC = receiver operating characteristic; Sn = sensitivity; Sp = specificity. Credit: Seoul National University and Ewha Womans University, Seoul, South Korea

A suspected pulmonary embolism on a conventional CT image (left (or top), red arrow) is confirmed on a spectral CT by the presence of a corresponding wedge-shaped perfusion defect (right (or bottom), red outline). The spectral image was reconstructed when conventional CT images were not enough to form a definitive diagnosis. All data was acquired simultaneously using a Philips IQon Spectral CT scanner. (Images courtesy of Dr. Gopal V. Punjabi, Hennepin County Medical Center)