Advances and clinical challenges in biomaterials for in vivo tumor imaging

Abstract Cancer is a major health burden due to the overall high mortality and physical impairment associated with it. Several factors play relevant roles in cancer prognosis, including the progression stage of the disease. Diagnosing tumors at an early stage is challenging due to the absence or nonspecificity of symptoms and overall lack of specificity and sensitivity of diagnostic methods. Several improvements have been made in past decades, especially with emerging molecular diagnostic tools. Nonetheless, imaging tumor tissues via anatomically oriented tools is still challenging, and the development of new platforms to deliver contrasts/reporters to tumors is a promising strategy to improve the current state of tumor imaging. In this chapter, major aspects related to tumor imaging in vivo are discussed, highlighting the advantages and limitations of major imaging techniques such as X-ray computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, positron emission tomography, and optical imaging. Novel nanoparticle–based platforms are also explored and discussed with respect to their contribution toward improving tumor imaging sensitivity and specificity when compared with small-molecule contrast agents.