Emerging Imaging Modalities in Regenerative Medicine

Curr Pathobiol Rep. 2015;3(1):27-36. doi: 10.1007/s40139-015-0073-3. Epub 2015 Jan 28.

Abstract

The field of regenerative medicine has experienced considerable growth in recent years as the translation of pre-clinical biomaterials and cell- and gene-based therapies begin to reach clinical application. Until recently, the ability to monitor the serial responses to therapeutic treatments has been limited to post-mortem tissue analyses. With improvements in existing imaging modalities and the emergence of hybrid imaging systems, it is now possible to combine information related to structural remodeling with associated molecular events using non-invasive imaging. This review summarizes the established and emerging imaging modalities that are available for in vivo monitoring of clinical regenerative medicine therapies and discusses the strengths and limitations of each imaging modality.

Keywords: Biomaterials; Cell therapy; Gene therapy; Molecular imaging; Regenerative medicine; Tissue engineering.

Publication types

  • Review