Potential Pediatric Applications of PET/MR

Abstract

Medical imaging with multimodality and whole-body technologies has continuously improved in recent years. The advent of combined modalities such as PET/CT and PET/MR offers new tools with an exact fusion of molecular imaging and high-resolution anatomic imaging. For noninvasive pediatric diagnostics, molecular imaging and whole-body MR have become important, especially in pediatric oncology. Because it has a lower radiation exposure than PET/CT, combined PET/MR is expected to be of special use in pediatric diagnostics. This review focuses on possible pediatric applications of PET/MR hybrid imaging, particularly pediatric oncology and neurology but also the diagnosis of infectious or inflammatory diseases.

Keywords: PET/MR; oncology; pediatric oncology; pediatrics.