Superlative Hybrid Imaging in Everyday Clinical Practice

Recent health care is a work of both science and art in accordance with an era of convergence. Medicines are designed by computers and delivered by patches, sprays, and implants. Sophisticated imaging systems support the age of “precision medicine” in patients care.

In the early 1990s, correlative imaging began to emerge in the field of nuclear medicine by comparing anatomical imaging from ultrasound, computed tomography (CT), or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) or positron emission tomography (PET) that provide functional imaging. Computer imaging fusion techniques have allowed the combination of anatomical and functional imaging for physicians to compare and interpret. The year 2002 was a historical watershed in hybrid imaging with the hardware integration of PET and CT by Dr. David Townsend of the University of Pittsburgh. Currently, SPECT/CT, PET/CT, and PET/MR are available for clinical application in hybrid imaging modalities, and there is also ongoing study and development on the merging of PET-CT-MR.

Correlative imaging has as its ultimate goal to cure a patient's disease and improve quality of life via the biomedical engineer's effort to develop more accurate and convenient equipment for diagnosis along with the implication and practical use of those modalities by radiologists, nuclear physicians, and clinical physicians. Because there are few independent volumes or review articles focusing on the hybrid imaging of musculoskeletal disease, this issue of Seminars dedicated to the subject of hybrid imaging in musculoskeletal disorders is both significant and timely.

Eight review articles on technical advances in hybrid imaging, PET tracers in musculoskeletal disease beyond fluorodeoxyglucose, PET/CT in benign and malignant musculoskeletal tumor and tumor-like conditions, PET/CT in musculoskeletal infections, SPECT/CT in musculoskeletal metastasis and tumors, SPECT/CT in musculoskeletal infection, and MR/PET in musculoskeletal diseases are included. All the authors are experts in their field in America, Europe, and Asia. We are indebted to them for their time and effort. These cutting-edge practical articles on musculoskeletal hybrid imaging will be valuable to residents and practitioners in the fields of radiology and nuclear medicine, and to orthopedists as well as medical oncologists.

Moving forward, advancements in molecular imaging (a new field by which molecular behavior and function in the living body can be visualized noninvasively) and theranostics will bring not only valuable new drug discoveries but also usher in an era of ubiquitous medical imaging worldwide.