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Prologue: Relevance of molecular imaging in clinical medicine

Nature Clinical Practice Cardiovascular Medicine volume 5, page S1 (2008)Cite this article

A remarkable growth in cardiovascular imaging techniques and applications is underway. Traditionally, imaging approaches were based on anatomical and physiological assessment. In the past decade, however, the focus of imaging techniques, certainly in research, has shifted towards the visualization of physiological and pathophysiological processes at the cellular and molecular levels. Imaging at the molecular level, which can be defined as the in vivo characterization and measurement of biological processes, has become important, particularly in cardiovascular medicine.

Sensitive imaging techniques, including nuclear methods such as PET and single photon-emission CT, are the main molecular imaging modalities, but these techniques have low spatial resolution and lack anatomical definition. By contrast, MRI is characterized by its ability to generate three-dimensional tomographic images of opaque and soft tissue with relatively high spatial resolution. This technique can, therefore, be a useful diagnostic tool. Apart from anatomical information, metabolic and functional information can also be obtained with MRI. The degree of contrast seen on anatomical magnetic resonance images is due mainly to differences in proton density and inherent differences in the relaxation times of water in tissues. Importantly, relaxation can be manipulated with the use of exogenous contrast agents, and molecular imaging contrast agents that are MRI active have been developed by a number of research groups since the mid-1990s.

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  1. ZA Fayad is Professor of Radiology and Medicine (Cardiology) and V Fuster is Director of the Zena and Michael A Wiener Cardiovascular Institute and the Marie-Josée and Henry R Kravis Center for Cardiovascular Health, at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA.,

    Zahi A Fayad & Valentin Fuster

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  1. Zahi A Fayad
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  2. Valentin Fuster
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Correspondence to Zahi A Fayad.

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Fayad, Z., Fuster, V. Prologue: Relevance of molecular imaging in clinical medicine. Nat Rev Cardiol 5 (Suppl 2), S1 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncpcardio1237

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