Potential Clinical Applications of PET/MR

Abstract

Since the introduction of simultaneous positron emission tomography magnetic resonance imaging (PET/MR) in 2010, technological advances led to improved image quality, improved attenuation correction, and reduced scan time, leading to an increasing number of clinical applications for this new technology. Lower radiation exposure and higher soft-tissue contrast are the main advantages of PET/MR over PET/CT. However, its real added value in clinical applications is still under investigation. This short review is focusing on three PET/MR applications that had an increasing clinical acceptance in our institution and where we believe that PET/MR will play an important role in the future: prostate cancer, head and neck cancer, and cardiac imaging.