Primer on molecular imaging technology

Abstract. Awide range of technologies is available for in vivo, ex vivo, and in vitro molecular and cellular imaging. This article focuses on three key in vivo imaging system instrumentation technologies used in the molecular imag-ing research described in this special issue of Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging: positron emission tomography, single-photon emission computed tomography, and biolumines-cence imaging. For each modality, the basics of how it works, important performance parameters, and the state-of-the-art instrumentation are described. Comparisons and integration of multiple modalities are also discussed. The principles discussed in this article apply to both human and small animal imaging