Toward clinical imaging mass spectrometry

Since its inception, the research and development in imaging mass spectrometry (MS) have been driven by aspiration for clinical applications. Imaging MS can map simultaneously hundreds of metabolites, lipids, drugs, and proteins on diverse types of tissues with minor variations in sample preparation. Imaging MS can detect molecular distributions in tissues that can identify earlier changes that have not manifested in morphological changes visible under a microscope. In this chapter, efforts and strategies for moving toward clinical imaging mass spectrometry are discussed.