Imaging of Slow Viruses

Diffusion MR imaging for monitoring treatment response

The objective of this article was to emphasize the use of diffusion-weighted imaging in the diagnosis and follow-up of several major disease contexts, as established in recent literature. In some of these diseases the diffusion changes are correlated with the clinical deficit and are potentially useful for early diagnosis and longitudinal evaluation, as well as in the context of pharmacologic trials. Diffusion magnetic resonance is a major advance in the continuing evolution of MR imaging. It provides contrasts and characterization between tissues at a cellular level that may imply differences in function as well as framework and have contributed to a better understanding of the pathophysiological mechanisms of several diseases.

Biomarkers and imaging: physics and chemistry for noninvasive analyses

The era of ‘modern medicine’ has changed its name to ‘molecular medicine’, and reflects a new age based on personalized medicine utilizing molecular biomarkers in the diagnosis, staging and monitoring of therapy. Alzheimer’s disease has a classical biomarker determined at autopsy with the histologic staining of amyloid accumulation in the brain. Today we can diagnose Alzheimer’s disease using the same classical pathologic biomarker, but now using a noninvasive imaging probe to image the amyloid deposition in a patient and potentially provide treatment strategies and measure their effectiveness. Molecular medicine is the exploitation of biomarkers to detect disease before overt expression of pathology. Physicians can now find, fight and follow disease using imaging, and the need for other disease biomarkers is in high demand. This review will discuss the innovative physical and molecular biomarker probes now being developed for imaging systems and we will introduce the concepts needed for validation and regulatory acceptance of surrogate biomarkers in the detection and treatment of disease.