Simultaneous MR/PET – Clinical Reality?

Much has already been written about the technology, the basic ideas as well as the potential clinical needs behind the combining of MR and PET. As with all new imaging methodologies, there is debate as to how much this technology is really needed (similarly, for example, with the availability of PET/CT) and the discussion regarding MR/PET in particular concerns the level of integration and, even more fundamentally, the question whether the simultaneity of MRI and PET acquisition is really required. It should be pointed out that now that the MR/PET technology is available in the Biograph mMR, real simultaneous imaging with different methodologies is possible in a clinical setting for the first time – a clear paradigm shift in how we acquire information about patients and their diseases. The combining of functional information derived by MR and the possibility to influence PET information and vice versa is stimulating researchers worldwide and hopefully this will also clearly impact on how we provide biomarkers for therapy decisions throughout the continuum of patient care. But also from a purely clinical and very practical perspective, simultaneity 1B 1A