PET Imaging of Skeletal Metastases and Its Role in Personalizing Further Management

Abstract

In oncology, the skeleton is one of the most frequently encountered sites for metastatic disease and thus early detection not only has an impact on an individual patient's management but also on the overall outcome. Multiparametric and multimodal hybrid PET/computed tomography and PET/MR imaging have revolutionized imaging for bone metastases, but irrespective of tumor biology or morphology of the bone lesion it remains unclear which imaging modality is the most clinically relevant to guide individualized cancer care. In this review, we highlight the current clinical challenges of PET imaging in evaluation and quantification of skeletal tumor burden and its impact on personalized cancer management.

Keywords: Bone; Evidence based medicine; Functional imaging; Neoplasms/Carcinoma; Radionuclide imaging; Skeletal metastasis; Translational medicine; Tumor biology.