Precision medicine is an approach that proposes customized medical care based on the individual characteristics of each patient. The rapidly emerging field not only holds great promise for diagnosis of disease and prediction of risk of developing diseases, but also offers the possibility of remarkably fine-tuned remedies to improve patient health while minimizing the risk of harmful side effects. Many technologies including genetics, informatics, and medical imaging, are rapidly expanding the scope of precision medicine. Among these technologies, imaging is poised to play a major role in the age of precision medicine. By characterizing anatomy, physiology and metabolism of the patient, medical imaging enables precise, personalized procedures and predictive, patient-specific therapy selection. In recent years, image-guided treatment procedures are becoming more and more common in hospitals, replacing conventional surgery or allowing faster recoveries with fewer post-procedure complications. As the most widely used modality, ultrasound is playing an increasingly important role towards moving precision medicine into clinical practice. It is a safe, inexpensive diagnostic tool and capable of producing real-time and non-invasive images without significant biological effects. To date, lots of ultrasound imaging technology, such as gray-scale, color Doppler flow imaging (CDFI), contrast enhanced ultrasound (CEUS), elastography have been developed, which have greatly improved disease diagnosis, treatment and prognosis. Thanks to these progress, ultrasound imaging has also been used in fields that were not previously involved, such as the lungs and musculoskeletal tissues. With the rapid development of ultrasound contrast agents, ultrasound molecular imaging is moving from animal study into clinical practice. First-in-human results of ultrasound molecular imaging with BR55 (a kinase insert domain receptor [KDR]–targeted contrast microbubble) in patients with breast and ovarian lesions have been reported in 2017. Taking advantage of microbubble cavitation effect, ultrasound-assisted drug delivery technology also makes great progress. The clinical trial of blood-brain barrier disruption for chemotherapy delivery in the brain had been conducted and confirmed its safety and well toleration in patients with recurrent glioblastoma (GBM). Moreover, ultrasound provides an advantageous tool for image-guided therapy due to its capability of real-time imaging for deep tissues, contributing to greatly improved localization and targeting of diseased tissues. More interestingly, by imaging these drug-loaded contrast agents, ultrasound-mediated drug delivery can be visualized. All of the above examples help demonstrate the promising potential of ultrasound in precision medicine, not only for disease diagnosis, but also for treatment selection and prognosis evaluation. The present Research Topic here in Frontiers in Pharmacology aims to bring a collection of research describing ultrasound used for precision medicine in diagnosis, drug delivery and image-guided therapy.

MRI-Guided Focused Ultrasound Surgery will be the first publication on this new technology, and will present a variety of current and future clinical applications in tumor ablation treatment. This source helps surgeons and specialists evaluate, analyze, and utilize MRI-guided focused ultrasound surgery - bridging the gap between phase 3 clinical tr

With treatment approaches and the field of neuro-oncology neuroimaging changing rapidly, this third edition of the Handbook of Neuro-Oncology Neuroimaging is very relevant to those in the field, providing a single-source, comprehensive, reference handbook of the most up-to-date clinical and technical information regarding the application of neuroimaging techniques to brain tumor and neuro-oncology patients. This new volume will have updates on all of the material from the second edition, and in addition features several new important chapters covering diverse topics such as imaging for the use of Laser Interstitial Thermal Therapy, advanced imaging techniques in radiation therapy, therapeutic treatment fields, response assessment in clinical trials, surgical planning of neoplastic disease of the spine, and more. Sections first overview neuro-oncological disorders before delving into the physics and basic science of neuroimaging and great focus on CT and MRI. The book then focuses on advances in the neuroimaging of brain tumors and neuroimaging of specific tumor types. There is also discussion of neuroimaging of other neuro-oncological syndromes. This book will serve as a resource of background information to neuroimaging researchers and basic scientists with an interest in brain tumors and neuro-oncology. - Summarizes translational research on brain imaging for brain tumors - Discusses limitations of neuroimaging for diagnosis and treatment - Presents advanced imaging technologies, including CT, MRI, and PET - Contains new coverage on Laser Interstitial Thermal Therapy, radiation therapy, clinical trials, and more

With contributions by internationally re-knowned authorities and experts in the field of ultrasonic imaging, this book provides comprehensive reviews on basic physical principles and applications of emerging and rapidly developing therapeutic techniques.In specific, reviews of mechanisms for bioeffects of ultrasound relevant to therapeutic applications, high intensity focused ultrasound and its application in surgery, ultrasound assisted target drug and gene delivery, as well as transdermal drug delivery are discussed.The book will be a useful reference source for graduate students, academics and researchers.

Molecular imaging of drugs or drug carriers is a valuable tool that can provide important information on spatiotemporal distribution of drugs, allowing improved drug distribution at target sites. Chemically labelled drugs can be used to both diagnose and treat diseases. This book introduces the topic of image guided drug delivery and covers the latest imaging techniques and developments in theranostics, highlighting the interdisciplinary nature of this field as well as its translational ability. These technologies and techniques hold potential for individualised, safer therapies. The book introduces the chemistry behind labelling drugs or drug carriers for imaging. It then discusses current scientific progress in the discovery and development of theranostic agents as well as the latest advances in triggered drug delivery. Novel imaging techniques that can be combined with therapeutics are presented, as well as results and findings from early clinical trials. This text will provide postgraduates and researchers in various disciplines associated with drug discovery, including chemistry, device engineering, oncology, neurology, cardiology, imaging, and nanoscience, an overview of this important field where several disciplines have been combined to improve treatments. Readers will be introduced to techniques that can be translated to the clinic and be applied widely.

Transport in Biological Media is a solid resource of mathematical models for researchers across a broad range of scientific and engineering problems such as the effects of drug delivery, chemotherapy, or insulin intake to interpret transport experiments in areas of cutting edge biological research. A wide range of emerging theoretical and experimental mathematical methodologies are offered by biological topic to appeal to individual researchers to assist them in solving problems in their specific area of research. Researchers in biology, biophysics, biomathematics, chemistry, engineers and clinical fields specific to transport modeling will find this resource indispensible. - Provides detailed mathematical model development to interpret experiments and provides current modeling practices - Provides a wide range of biological and clinical applications - Includes physiological descriptions of models

Getting the right diagnosis is a key aspect of health care - it provides an explanation of a patient's health problem and informs subsequent health care decisions. The diagnostic process is a complex, collaborative activity that involves clinical reasoning and information gathering to determine a patient's health problem. According to Improving Diagnosis in Health Care, diagnostic errors-inaccurate or delayed diagnoses-persist throughout all settings of care and continue to harm an unacceptable number of patients. It is likely that most people will experience at least one diagnostic error in their lifetime, sometimes with devastating consequences. Diagnostic errors may cause harm to patients by preventing or delaying appropriate treatment, providing unnecessary or harmful treatment, or resulting in psychological or financial repercussions. The committee concluded that improving the diagnostic process is not only possible, but also represents a moral, professional, and public health imperative. Improving Diagnosis in Health Care, a continuation of the landmark Institute of Medicine reports To Err Is Human (2000) and Crossing the Quality Chasm (2001), finds that diagnosis-and, in particular, the occurrence of diagnostic errorsâ€"has been largely unappreciated in efforts to improve the quality and safety of health care. Without a dedicated focus on improving diagnosis, diagnostic errors will likely worsen as the delivery of health care and the diagnostic process continue to increase in complexity. Just as the diagnostic process is a collaborative activity, improving diagnosis will require collaboration and a widespread commitment to change among health care professionals, health care organizations, patients and their families, researchers, and policy makers. The recommendations of Improving Diagnosis in Health Care contribute to the growing momentum for change in this crucial area of health care quality and safety.