Future of Diagnostic Imaging

“Prediction is difficult, especially about the future .”—Niels Bohr

Over the last decades, there has been rapid growth in the field of diagnostic imaging, yielding various imaging equipment (Johnson, 2013). Common imaging modalities in general clinical practice include digital radiography and ultrasound. Many veterinary clinics also use computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) routinely. Even scintigraphy and single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) are increasingly available. The recent advances in veterinary imaging are discussed in the following.

Digital radiography offers many advantages such as portable systems, immediate image processing, and wireless communication. Improved resolution often ensures good image quality with less radiation. Suppliers and distributors estimate that approximately 60% of the small animal practices in Great Britain, for example, have changed to digital radiography (Johnson, 2013).

Ultrasound techniques are currently being employed in human medicine. Emerging applications such as elastography and contrast-enhanced imaging have been validated by several research groups. They may improve the specificity of this sensitive diagnostic method and provide additional functional data to the conventional morphologic information (Lustgarten et al., 2013). Elastography, in particular, may be a suitable noninvasive modality for evaluating tendons and ligaments of the distal forelimb in horses (Lustgarten et al., 2013).

The major improvements in CT have occurred with regard to resolution, scanning velocity, and software, reducing artifact formation and allowing 4D rapid real-time imaging at high resolution (e.g., in cardiology). Although these features are expensive, they reduce patient time in the scanner and improve diagnostic accuracy (O’Brien, 2011). A future application will be the combination of high-resolution CT images with those derived by other imaging modalities such as positron emission tomography (PET) and MRI.  [...]