Identification of impactful imaging biomarker: Clinical applications for breast and prostate carcinoma

Background Imaging biomarkers are quantitative parameters from imaging modalities, which are collected noninvasively, allow conclusions about physiological and pathophysiological processes, and may consist of single (monoparametric) or multiple parameters (bi- or multiparametric).Method This review aims to present the state of the art for the quantification of multimodal and multiparametric imaging biomarkers. Here, the use of biomarkers using artificial intelligence will be addressed and the clinical application of imaging biomarkers in breast and prostate cancers will be explained. For the preparation of the review article, an extensive literature search was performed based on Pubmed, Web of Science and Google Scholar. The results were evaluated and discussed for consistency and generality.Results and Conclusion Different imaging biomarkers (multiparametric) are quantified based on the use of complementary imaging modalities (multimodal) from radiology, nuclear medicine, or hybrid imaging. From these techniques, parameters are determined at the morphological (e. g., size), functional (e. g., vascularization or diffusion), metabolic (e. g., glucose metabolism), or molecular (e. g., expression of prostate specific membrane antigen, PSMA) level. The integration and weighting of imaging biomarkers are increasingly being performed with artificial intelligence, using machine learning algorithms. In this way, the clinical application of imaging biomarkers is increasing, as illustrated by the diagnosis of breast and prostate cancers.