Worldwide, breast cancer comprises 22.9 percent of all cancers in women; and in 2008, breast cancer caused 458,503 deaths worldwide, according to the 2008 World Cancer Report from the International Agency for Research on Cancer. These statistics indicate a clear need for better diagnosis and treatment methods.

While preclinical molecular imaging has been a consistent field of research over the past few years, the number of positive studies and continued funding has grown tremendously this past year—with greater expectations for 2012.

As with every late November, this year’s Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) reinvigorated the imaging community. This year, in particular, molecular imaging took center stage, as a plethora of education sessions, scientific papers and keynote speakers focused on the benefits garnered from using nuclear medicine to detect disease, target therapy and monitor response in a personalized manner.

This issue highlights the emergence of PET/MR, which follows the introduction of SPECT/CT and PET/CT that have convincingly shown that multimodality imaging can result in significantly improved disease characterization.

While imaging has become firmly entrenched in the patient care cycle, preclinical imaging is revealing the promise of enhanced methods of tracking varied conditions with even more clarity through the use of new tracers.

Preclinical imaging is presenting new opportunities for potential care of new patient populations that includes spinal imaging for bone marrow cellurarity assessment and a unique brain imaging technique.

The cover story in this issue discusses the role of PET imaging for assessing therapeutic responses in cancer. Over the past 15 years, a large body of evidence has demonstrated that FDG-PET imaging is uniquely useful to assess treatment responses in cancer patients.

While PET continues to have a burgeoning role in the clinical setting, its prevalence in the preclinical imaging setting also is proliferating and simultaneously proving its efficacy and feasibility.

When researchers undertake porcine studies in the preclinical setting, it typically indicates a final step in the research process, which may soon after result in a new treatment method for patients.

This month, the FDA released its first framework for the regulation and oversight of nanotechnology, as a joint collaboration with the National Economic Council, the Office of Management and Budget, the Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. This is a "first step" towards regulating this new and innovative technology.

Preclinical research with nanoparticle imaging has shown promise for cancer detection because nanoparticles have the potential to illuminate the cellular interior to reveal complex processes in a living cell. This has lead to an explosion of preclinical studies involving nanoparticles for various cancers.

PET imaging can play an invaluable role in monitoring the effects of cancer therapies. In my view, cancer therapies that do not achieve early reductions in FDG uptake cannot be effective.

A new class of contrast agents using iron nanostructures looks to add color to the world of MRI. Li Sun, PhD, associate professor of mechanical engineering in University of Houston’s Cullen College of Engineering, has received a three year, $300,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to develop this new class of MRI contrast agents.

Researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory at Stony Brook University in New York have developed an innovative technology that allows laboratory rats to ‘wear’ a mini PET scanner, in order to perform real-time neurological imaging without sedation.

This issue provides updates on several important applications of molecular imaging. The cover story presents novel ideas to better identify patients who are at risk for or have coronary artery disease.

Preclinical imaging research helps to provide some early insight for the medical community on what new treatments and therapies could soon be available to help human patients globally, who suffer from a multitude of illnesses that currently do not have remedies. For instance, this month showed a large leap forward for nanoparticles, which received FDA approval for trails of human cancer imaging.