Preclinical studies with small animal PET

Many new PET probes are under evaluation for the functional imaging of patients with melnoma. Those tracers are targeted to α-MSH receptors and to the intercellular biosynthesis of melanin. Their Chemical synthesis and labeling are well-established processes, and so far promising results have been obtained by imaging small animal models melanoma. However, no comparison studies are available, and therefore it is impossible to derive which of those tracers leads to the most accurate PET imaging. Furthermore, much work remains to be done before those compounds are available for the routine PET imaging pf patients with melanoma.