Page 33 - ARNM-2-3

Advances in Radiotherapy &

Nuclear Medicine

REVIEW ARTICLE
Advances in molecular imaging for early

detection of lung cancer

Dongjun Li * , Mimba Brenda-Ruth 1 , Bamishaye Oluwabukola 1 , and
1
Jinghui Peng 2
1 Department of Chemistry, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
2 Hubei Key Laboratory of Cell Homeostasis, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Hubei,
Wuhan, China

Abstract

Lung cancer remains the second most commonly diagnosed cancer globally and the
leading cause of cancer-related deaths, a trend consistent in the United States as
of 2023. One of the key reasons for the high mortality rate of lung cancer is its poor
prognosis, with 75% of patients diagnosed at middle and advanced stages. Early
detection of subclinical lung cancer, metastases, and their fibrotic stroma is crucial
for enabling timely treatment, reducing reoccurrence, and stratifying patients.
Current diagnostic methods, such as lung biopsy for patients with small nodules,
are highly invasive and technically challenging. The radiological gold standard,
computed tomography (CT), is associated with ionizing radiation. However, positron
emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have emerged
as promising methodologies for lung cancer diagnosis. PET tracers with a variety
*Corresponding author: of targeting mechanisms are currently under development in human trials. With
Dongjun Li advancements in hardware and software over the past decades, radiation-free MRI
(dli20@gsu.edu) has been clinically and preclinically validated as an alternative to CT. Moreover,
Citation: Li D, Brenda-Ruth novel-targeted MRI contrast agents have been tested in animal models and show
M, Oluwabukola B, Peng J. strong translational potential. In this review, we summarize the state-of-the-art
Advances in molecular imaging progress in molecular imaging for the early detection of lung cancer and its potential
for early detection of lung
cancer. Adv Radiother Nucl Med. biomarkers.
2024;2(3):4173.
doi: 10.36922/arnm.4173
Keywords: Early detection; Lung cancer; Molecular imaging; Magnetic resonance
Received: July 9, 2024
imaging; Positron emission tomography; Computed tomography
Accepted: August 6, 2024
Published Online: September 19,
2024
Copyright: © 2024 Author(s). 1. Introduction
This is an Open-Access article As of 2020, lung cancer remained the second most commonly diagnosed cancer and the
distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution leading cause of cancer-related deaths globally, accounting for approximately one in ten
License, permitting distribution, of all diagnosed cancers and contributing to one in five cancer-related deaths. This trend
1
and reproduction in any medium,
2
provided the original work is remained consistent in the United States in 2023. Non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC)
properly cited. and small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) are usually diagnosed at an advanced stage, often
3-6
Publisher’s Note: AccScience resulting in a poor prognosis. One of the major reasons for the high mortality rate of
Publishing remains neutral with lung cancer is the tendency of advanced-stage disease to metastasize to distant organs,
regard to jurisdictional claims in 7-9
published maps and institutional complicating treatment efforts. Early detection of lung cancer has been shown to
affiliations. significantly improve survival rates compared to late-stage diagnosis, allowing for timely

Volume 2 Issue 3 (2024) 1 doi: 10.36922/arnm.4173