. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2015 Feb 1.

Published in final edited form as: Ann Biomed Eng. 2013 Sep 10;42(2):280–298. doi: 10.1007/s10439-013-0895-2

Table 1.

Strengths and weaknesses of imaging modalities

	Sensitivity	Quantitation of carrier distribution and kinetics	Functional probes (e.g. molecular expression, blood flow, biochemistry)	Activatable probes (change properties due to caging, quenching, etc)
PET	Very high	Excellent	Many	None
MRI	Low	Limited applications	Some	Limited availability, can assess intracellular trafficking
Optical	Very high	Limited	Many	Many, can assess intracellular trafficking
Ultrasound	High	Limited applications	Blood flow /volume and molecular	Some