This review explores the pivotal role of angiogenesis in breast cancer progression and treatment. It covers biomarkers, imaging techniques, therapeutic approaches, resistance mechanisms, and clinical implications. Key topics include Vascular Endothelial Growth Factors, angiopoietins, microRNA signatures, and circulating endothelial cells as biomarkers, along with Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Computed Tomography Angiography, Ultrasound, and Positron Emission Tomography for imaging. Therapeutic strategies targeting VEGF, tyrosine kinase inhibitors, and the intersection of angiogenesis with immunotherapy are discussed. Challenges such as resistance mechanisms and personalized medicine approaches are addressed. Clinical implications, prognostic value, and the future direction of angiogenesis-targeted therapies are highlighted. The article concludes with reflections on the transformative potential of understanding angiogenesis.

Echinococcosis, a parasitic infection caused by Echinococcus tapeworms, can cause various symptoms depending on the location and size of the cysts. This article explores the complexities of echinococcosis, including its transmission cycle, clinical manifestations, diagnosis, and treatment approaches. The review highlights the challenges associated with diagnosing the different echinococcosis types, including cystic echinococcosis, alveolar echinococcosis, and polycystic echinococcosis. Each form of the disease necessitates a unique diagnostic approach that often combines serological tests, imaging techniques, and histological analysis. The article explores treatment options for each type of echinococcosis, including surgical resection, medication, and minimally invasive procedures such as puncture-aspiration-injection-reaspiration (PAIR). The article acknowledges current treatment methods\' limitations and emphasises the need for further research into improved diagnostics, drug targets, and preventative measures. This review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of echinococcosis, encompassing its transmission, clinical presentation, diagnosis, and treatment modalities. By outlining the complexities of the disease and highlighting areas for future research, the article hopes to contribute to improved disease management and control. Key findings of the review include the identification of significant diagnostic challenges in differentiating between cystic, alveolar, and polycystic echinococcosis, the varying efficacy of treatment modalities such as surgical resection and PAIR, and the urgent need for further research into enhanced diagnostic methods, novel drug targets, and effective preventative strategies.

Pancreatic cancer (PaC) incidence is increasing, but our current screening and diagnostic strategies are not very effective. However, screening could be helpful in the case of PaC, as recent evidence shows that the disease progresses gradually. Unfortunately, there is no ideal screening method or program for detecting PaC in its early stages. Conventional imaging techniques, such as abdominal ultrasound, CT, MRI, and EUS, have not been successful in detecting early-stage PaC. On the other hand, biomarkers may be a more effective screening tool for PaC and have greater potential for further evaluation compared to imaging. Recent studies on biomarkers and artificial intelligence (AI)-enhanced imaging have shown promising results in the early diagnosis of PaC. In addition to proteins, non-coding RNAs are also being studied as potential biomarkers for PaC. This review consolidates the current literature on PaC screening modalities to provide an organized framework for future studies. While conventional imaging techniques have not been effective in detecting early-stage PaC, biomarkers and AI-enhanced imaging are promising avenues of research. Further studies on the use of biomarkers, particularly non-coding RNAs, in combination with imaging modalities may improve the accuracy of PaC screening and lead to earlier detection of this deadly disease.

Recent advancements in CT technology have introduced a revolutionary innovation to practice known as the Photon-Counting detector (PCD) CT imaging. The pivotal hardware enhancement of the PCD-CT scanner lies in its detectors, which consist of smaller pixels than standard detectors and allow direct conversion of individual X-rays to electrical signals. As a result, CT images are reconstructed at higher spatial resolution (as low as 0.2 mm) and reduced overall noise, at no expense of an increased radiation dose. These features are crucial for paediatric imaging, especially for infants and young children, where anatomical structures are notably smaller than in adults and in whom keeping dose as low as possible is especially relevant. Since January 2022, our hospital has had the opportunity to work with PCD-CT technology for paediatric imaging. This pictorial review will showcase clinical examples of PCD-CT imaging in children. The aim of this pictorial review is to outline the potential paediatric applications of PCD-CT across different anatomical regions, as well as to discuss the benefits in utilizing PCD-CT in comparison to conventional standard energy integrating detector CT.

UNASSIGNED: The current lack of objective and quantitative assessment techniques to determine cardiac graft relative viability results in risk-averse decision-making, which negatively impact the utilization of cardiac grafts. The purpose of this review is to highlight the current deficiencies in cardiac allograft assessment before focusing on novel cardiac assessment techniques that exploit conventional and emerging imaging modalities, including ultrasound, magnetic resonance, and spectroscopy.
UNASSIGNED: Extensive work is ongoing by the scientific community to identify improved objective metrics and tools for cardiac graft assessment, with the goal to safely increasing the number and proportion of hearts accepted for transplantation.
UNASSIGNED: This review briefly discusses the in situ and ex vivo tools currently available for clinical organ assessment, before focusing on the individual capabilities of ultrasound, magnetic resonance, and spectroscopy to provide insightful, non-invasive information regarding cardiac graft functional and metabolic status that may be used to predict outcome after transplantation.

UNASSIGNED: Glioma is one of the most drug and radiation-resistant tumors. Gliomas suffer from inter- and intratumor heterogeneity which makes the outcome of similar treatment protocols vary from patient to patient. This article is aimed to overview the potential imaging markers for individual diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment response prediction in malignant glioma. Furthermore, the correlation between imaging findings and biological and clinical information of glioma patients is reviewed.
UNASSIGNED: The search strategy in this study is to select related studies from scientific websites such as PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar, and Web of Science published until 2022. It comprised a combination of keywords such as Biomarkers, Diagnosis, Prognosis, Imaging techniques, and malignant glioma, according to Medical Subject Headings.
UNASSIGNED: Some imaging parameters that are effective in glioma management include: ADC, FA, Ktrans, regional cerebral blood volume (rCBV), cerebral blood flow (CBF), ve, Cho/NAA and lactate/lipid ratios, intratumoral uptake of 18F-FET (for diagnostic application), RD, ADC, ve, vp, Ktrans, CBFT1, rCBV, tumor blood flow, Cho/NAA, lactate/lipid, MI/Cho, uptakes of 18F-FET, 11C-MET, and 18F-FLT (for prognostic and predictive application). Cerebral blood volume and Ktrans are related to molecular markers such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). Preoperative ADCmin value of GBM tumors is associated with O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) promoter methylation status. 2-hydroxyglutarate metabolite and dynamic 18F-FDOPA positron emission tomography uptake are related to isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) mutations.
UNASSIGNED: Parameters including ADC, RD, FA, rCBV, Ktrans, vp, and uptake of 18F-FET are useful for diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment response prediction in glioma. A significant correlation between molecular markers such as VEGF, MGMT, and IDH mutations with some diffusion and perfusion imaging parameters has been identified.

Cardiac amyloidosis, characterized by amyloid fibril deposition in the myocardium, leads to restrictive cardiomyopathy and heart failure. This review explores recent advancements in imaging techniques for diagnosing and managing cardiac amyloidosis, highlighting their clinical applications, strengths, and limitations. Echocardiography remains a primary, non-invasive imaging modality but lacks specificity. Cardiac MRI (CMR), with Late Gadolinium Enhancement (LGE) and T1 mapping, offers superior tissue characterization, though at higher costs and limited availability. Scintigraphy with Tc-99m-PYP reliably diagnoses transthyretin (TTR) amyloidosis but is less effective for light chain (AL) amyloidosis, necessitating complementary diagnostics. Amyloid-specific PET tracers, such as florbetapir and flutemetamol, provide precise imaging and quantitative assessment for both TTR and AL amyloidosis. Challenges include differentiating between TTR and AL amyloidosis, early disease detection, and standardizing imaging protocols. Future research should focus on developing novel tracers, integrating multimodality imaging, and leveraging AI to enhance diagnostic accuracy and personalized treatment. Advancements in imaging have improved cardiac amyloidosis management. A multimodal approach, incorporating echocardiography, CMR, scintigraphy, and PET tracers, offers comprehensive assessment. Continued innovation in tracers and AI applications promises further enhancements in diagnosis, early detection, and patient outcomes.

There is a diverse array of pediatric brain tumors with considerable associated morbidity. Like adult brain tumors, MRI serves as the primary imaging modality for pediatric brain tumors. In addition to standard sequences, more advanced MRI techniques can enhance the precision of diagnosis and assist in prognostication, and treatment planning. This paper discusses these various advanced techniques categorizing them into those that assist in identifying tissue characteristics, and those that evaluate the functional impact of tumors to aid in treatment planning.

Both cancer and fibrosis are diseases involving dysregulation of cell signaling pathways resulting in an altered cellular microenvironment which ultimately leads to progression of the condition. The two disease entities share common molecular pathophysiology and recent research has illuminated the how each promotes the other. Multiple imaging techniques have been developed to aid in the early and accurate diagnosis of each disease, and given the commonalities between the pathophysiology of the conditions, advances in imaging one disease have opened new avenues to study the other. Here, we detail the most up-to-date advances in imaging techniques for each disease and how they have crossed over to improve detection and monitoring of the other. We explore techniques in positron emission tomography (PET), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), second generation harmonic Imaging (SGHI), ultrasound (US), radiomics, and artificial intelligence (AI). A new diagnostic imaging tool in PET/computed tomography (CT) is the use of radiolabeled fibroblast activation protein inhibitor (FAPI). SGHI uses high-frequency sound waves to penetrate deeper into the tissue, providing a more detailed view of the tumor microenvironment. Artificial intelligence with the aid of advanced deep learning (DL) algorithms has been highly effective in training computer systems to diagnose and classify neoplastic lesions in multiple organs. Ultimately, advancing imaging techniques in cancer and fibrosis can lead to significantly more timely and accurate diagnoses of both diseases resulting in better patient outcomes.

Amyloid fibrils are insoluble proteins with intricate β-sheet structures associated with various human diseases, including Parkinson\'s, Alzheimer\'s, and prion diseases. Proteins can form aggregates when their structure is misfolded, resulting in highly organized amyloid fibrils or amorphous aggregates. The formation of protein aggregates is a promising research field for mitigating diseases and the pharmaceutical and food industries. It is important to monitor and minimize the appearance of aggregates in these protein products. Several methods exist to assess protein aggregation, that includes from basic investigations to advanced biophysical techniques. Physicochemical parameters such as molecular weight, conformation, structure, and dimension are examined to study aggregation. There is an urgent need to develop methods for the detection of protein aggregation and amyloid fibril formation both in vitro and in vivo. This chapter focuses on a comprehensive discussion of the methods used to characterize and evaluate aggregates and amyloid fibrils.