Prostate cancer is biologically and clinically a heterogeneous disease and its imaging evaluation will need to be tailored to the specific phases of the disease in a patient-specific, risk-adapted manner. We first present a brief overview of the natural history of prostate cancer before discussing the role of various imaging tools, including opportunities and challenges, for different clinical phases of this common disease in men. We then review the preclinical and clinical evidence on the potential and emerging role of positron emission tomography with various radiotracers in the imaging evaluation of men with prostate cancer.