FORUM
Medical physics in pre-clinical research Medizinische Physik in vorklinischen Untersuchungen To bridge the gap between in vitro cell experiments and clinical implementation pre-clinical in vivo molecular and functional imaging studies have become indispensable for translational cancer research. Biological, technical, and methodical aspects have to be considered with respect to these experiments. Molecular and functional imaging (an important part of pre-clinical in vivo imaging studies) provides a noninvasive access on a cellular and subcellular level and gives insights to tissue and organ function. Furthermore pre-clinical experiments have become indispensable in translational cancer research; e.g. to investigate tumour formation and growth, mechanism of metastasis or angiogenesis and hypoxia, or the development and optimization of therapeutic options. In this overall contact direct impact on animal welfare by the refinement of classical animal experiments should be considered too. This special issue of the Zeitschrift für Medizinische Physik on “Medical Physics in pre-clinical research” provides a comprehensive overview on the current and future directions of pre-clinical research with a special focus of the impact of medical physics on a wide variety of research activities. The special issue covers a wide spectrum ranging from kinetic modeling, to functional imaging down to image guided radiation oncology. More specifically, the first series of review articles focuses on topics in the arena of molecular and functional imaging. The review of Kuntner deals with kinetic modeling in preclinical positron emission tomography, which is fundamental for extracting relevant parameter of tracer interactions with tissues. The contributions from Zoellner et al., one focusing
on kidney while the second one focuses on the heart, greatly demonstrate the power functional magnetic resonance imaging for a non-invasive access to tissue and organ function to better explore the mechanisms of disease. In the field of radiation oncology small animal irradiation supports basis cancer research including the wide field of radiobiology, e.g. there are many open issues with respect to ion beam therapy where X-ray provide the benchmark case. The review of Verhaegen et al. describes the workflow and challenges of dose calculation, while the review of Tillner et al. summarizes the current technology platforms for dose delivery. The contributions from Frenzel et al. and Kuess et al. round up the radiation oncology and radiation physics topics, respectively, with original papers on dosimetric challenges. Overall this special issue can be considered as a highly valuable compendium on the importance of contributions from medical physics on pre-clinical in vivo molecular and functional imaging and image guided radiation therapy techniques. It is meant to give you as reader a closer understanding of the current status of pre-clinical research, and to be able to make the link from pre-clinical challenges to medical physics research activities, skills and competencies. The overall importance of pre-clinical research is continuously increasing; it is a multidisciplinary research playground at a highly experimental stage on which the progress of many medical disciplines depend on.
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
ScienceDirect
Z. Med. Phys. 24 (2014) 271 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.zemedi.2014.08.003 www.elsevier.com/locate/zemedi
Thomas Helbich Wien
Medical physics in pre-clinical research Medizinische Physik in vorklinischen Untersuchungen To bridge the gap between in vitro cell experiments and clinical implementation pre-clinical in vivo molecular and functional imaging studies have become indispensable for translational cancer research. Biological, technical, and methodical aspects have to be considered with respect to these experiments. Molecular and functional imaging (an important part of pre-clinical in vivo imaging studies) provides a noninvasive access on a cellular and subcellular level and gives insights to tissue and organ function. Furthermore pre-clinical experiments have become indispensable in translational cancer research; e.g. to investigate tumour formation and growth, mechanism of metastasis or angiogenesis and hypoxia, or the development and optimization of therapeutic options. In this overall contact direct impact on animal welfare by the refinement of classical animal experiments should be considered too. This special issue of the Zeitschrift für Medizinische Physik on “Medical Physics in pre-clinical research” provides a comprehensive overview on the current and future directions of pre-clinical research with a special focus of the impact of medical physics on a wide variety of research activities. The special issue covers a wide spectrum ranging from kinetic modeling, to functional imaging down to image guided radiation oncology. More specifically, the first series of review articles focuses on topics in the arena of molecular and functional imaging. The review of Kuntner deals with kinetic modeling in preclinical positron emission tomography, which is fundamental for extracting relevant parameter of tracer interactions with tissues. The contributions from Zoellner et al., one focusing
on kidney while the second one focuses on the heart, greatly demonstrate the power functional magnetic resonance imaging for a non-invasive access to tissue and organ function to better explore the mechanisms of disease. In the field of radiation oncology small animal irradiation supports basis cancer research including the wide field of radiobiology, e.g. there are many open issues with respect to ion beam therapy where X-ray provide the benchmark case. The review of Verhaegen et al. describes the workflow and challenges of dose calculation, while the review of Tillner et al. summarizes the current technology platforms for dose delivery. The contributions from Frenzel et al. and Kuess et al. round up the radiation oncology and radiation physics topics, respectively, with original papers on dosimetric challenges. Overall this special issue can be considered as a highly valuable compendium on the importance of contributions from medical physics on pre-clinical in vivo molecular and functional imaging and image guided radiation therapy techniques. It is meant to give you as reader a closer understanding of the current status of pre-clinical research, and to be able to make the link from pre-clinical challenges to medical physics research activities, skills and competencies. The overall importance of pre-clinical research is continuously increasing; it is a multidisciplinary research playground at a highly experimental stage on which the progress of many medical disciplines depend on.
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
ScienceDirect
Z. Med. Phys. 24 (2014) 271 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.zemedi.2014.08.003 www.elsevier.com/locate/zemedi
Thomas Helbich Wien
