Table 2.

Methods used for molecular imaging in oncology [8,184,185].

Method	Spatial Resolution	Temporal Resolution	Sensitivity [mol/L]	Costs	Advantages	Drawbacks
CT	50–200 µm	Minute	–	Low	Generation of anatomical images	It is difficult to generate functional, non-quantitative
MRI	25–100 µm	Minute to hour	10−3–10−5	Very high	High spatial resolution, non-radioactive tracers	Low sensitivity
PET	2–5 mm	Second to minute	10−11–10−12	Very high	The most sensitive imaging method, quantitative method, allows to use biologically relevant radionuclides	Imaging of large areas is expensive, low spatial resolution
SPECT	7.5–10 mm	Minute	10−10–10−11	High	Simultaneous multi-probe imaging is possible	Low spatial resolution

CT: Computed Tomography; MRI: Magnetic Resonance Imaging; PET: Positron Emission Tomography; SPECT: Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography.