Korean J Nucl Med.  2004 Apr;38(2):131-139.

Nuclear Medicine Imaging Instrumentations for Molecular Imaging

• Chung YH
• Song TY
• Choi Y

Abstract

Small animal models are extensively utilized in the study of biomedical sciences. Current animal experiments and analysis are largely restricted to in vitro measurements and need to sacrifice animals to perform tissue or molecular analysis. This prevents researchers from observing in vivo the natural evolution of the process under study. Imaging techniques can provide repeatedly in vivo anatomic and molecular information noninvasively. Small animal imaging systems have been developed to assess biological process in experimental animals and increasingly employed in the field of molecular imaging studies. This review outlines the current developments in nuclear medicine imaging instrumentations including fused multi-modality imaging systems for small animal imaging.

Keyword

Small animal imaging; SPECT; PET; Dual modality; Semiconductor detector

MeSH Terms

Animal Experimentation
Animals
Biological Processes
Models, Animal
Molecular Imaging*
Nuclear Medicine*
Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon