Table 1.

Advantages and disadvantages of imaging modalities for preclinical cancer drug discovery

Modality	Advantages	Disadvantages
MRI	•High spatial resolution	•Low sensitivity
	•Good soft tissue contrast	•Relatively long acquisition time
	•Provides both anatomical and functional information	•Requires expensive equipment
PET	•Provides biochemical information	•Limited anatomical information
	•High sensitivity	•Requires specialized equipment
	•Three-dimensional imaging	•Requires radio-nucleotide facilities
	•Can monitor changes in tumour metabolism and drug biodistribution	•Requires expensive equipment
SPECT	•Potential to detect multiple probes simultaneously in contrast to PET	•Lower sensitivity than PET
CT	•High-sensitivity anatomical imaging	•Lower resolution
	•Provides three-dimensional image	•Limited functional information
		•Poor soft tissue contrast
		•Requires expensive equipment
Ultrasound	•Good resolution	•Inability to image through bone
	•Provides both anatomical and functional information
	•Fast and portable technique
	•Relatively inexpensive
	•Amenable to smaller research laboratories
Optical (BLI and fluorescent)	•Wide applicability	•Requires genetic manipulation of investigated cells
	•Simultaneously monitor several molecular events	•Provides limited anatomical information
	•Relatively inexpensive	•Reduced sensitivity with increased imaging depth
	•Amenable to smaller research laboratories