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(Circulation Research. 2004;94:433.)
© 2004 American Heart Association, Inc.

Reviews

Seeing Within

Molecular Imaging of the Cardiovascular System

Farouc A. Jaffer, Ralph Weissleder

From the Center for Molecular Imaging Research (F.A.J., R.W.), Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, Mass; Cardiology Division (F.A.J.), Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass.

Correspondence to Farouc Jaffer, MD, PhD, or Ralph Weissleder, MD, PhD, MGH-CMIR, 149 13th St, Room 5406, Charlestown, MA 02129. E-mail fjaffer{at}partners.org or weissleder{at}helix.mgh.harvard.edu

This Review is part of a thematic series on Biological Imaging of the Cardiovascular System, which includes the following articles:

Noninvasive Imaging of Myocardial Viability: Current Techniques and Future Development

Seeing Within: Molecular Imaging of the Cardiovascular System

Imaging Neovascular Growth

Emerging Imaging Techniques
Elliot R. McVeigh Guest Editor

Molecular imaging is a rapidly evolving discipline with the goal of developing tools to display and quantify molecular and cellular targets in vivo. The heart of this field is based on the rational design and screening of targeted and activatable imaging reporter agents to sense fundamental processes of biology. Parallel advances in small animal imaging systems and in agent synthesis have allowed molecular imaging applications to extend into the in vivo arena. These advances have permitted, for example, in vivo sensing of inflammation, apoptosis, cell trafficking, and gene expression. In this review, we first review core principles of molecular imaging with an emphasis on smart, activatable agent technology. We then discuss applications of state-of-the-art molecular probes to interrogate important aspects of cardiovascular biology, with a focus on atherosclerosis, thrombosis, and heart failure. In the ensuing years, we anticipate that fundamental aspects of cardiovascular biology will be detectable in vivo, and that promising molecular imaging agents will be translated into the clinical arena to guide diagnosis and therapy of human cardiovascular illness.

Key Words: molecular imaging • atherosclerosis • thrombosis • heart failure • contrast agents

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