Molecular Medicine

摘要

When doctors need to peek at mysterious goings-on inside the human body, they can skip the scalpel and rely on MRIs and CT scans. These state-of-the-art imaging technologies, successors to the X ray, reveal exquisitely detailed pictures of various tissues, organs and other anatomy. Yet some of the most important details are invisible to MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) and CT (computed tomography). They can't reveal the molecular defects that indicate whether an abnormal lump is cancerous or benign. They can't tell doctors which bad genes are active in a patient's tumor or whether a drug is reaching its intended target. The result, says Stanford University imaging researcher Dr. Sanjiv Gambhir: "Everyone is shooting blindly."