Abstract

KC Li
NIH Clinical Centre, Bethesda, Maryland, USA

There is a misconception by many clinical radiologists that “Molecular Imaging” is not going to be a major part of clinical radiology in the near to intermediate future because it takes many years and multi-million dollars to take a new imaging probe to market. To dispel this misconception we need a more clinical definition of “Molecular Imaging” which I would define as “the practice of medical imaging in the era of molecular medicine”. Obviously, this definition is designed to be vague and all inclusive but this is precisely what we need to do so that we don’t get tunnel vision and the field of “Molecular Imaging” can enjoy the rapid growth similar to molecular diagnostic testing.

How then can a clinical radiologist become a “Molecular Imager”? I believe it can be divided into 4 different stages with increasing levels of sophistication. Stage 1. “See morphology think molecular biology”. Stage 2. “Combine imaging information with molecular diagnostic information”. Stage 3. “Obtain molecular information using imaging”. Stage 4. “Personalizing treatment using combined molecular imaging and therapy”.

To achieve the first stage of development requires only acquisition of knowledge and applying the knowledge in the daily practice of clinical radiology and even everyday life. With this type of approach, any interested clinical radiologist can become a “Molecular Imager” without waiting for new imaging probes or imaging equipment. However, new teaching materials need to be developed to enable the interested radiologists to become active participants which many organizations are beginning to address. With the increase in momentum in the whole field we are optimistic that “Molecular Imaging” will be part of everyday clinical radiology practice in the near future.


Keywords: Molecular imaging, clinical radiology