The following is a special report on alkylphosphocholine analogs as targeted imaging and therapy agents for cancer, and their potential role in diagnosis and treatment in glioblastoma and brain metastases. These novel cancer-targeting agents display impressive tumor avidity with low background in the normal brain, and multimodal diagnostic imaging and therapy capabilities. The use of these agents may significantly improve diagnosis, treatment and post-treatment follow-up in patients with brain malignancies.
Keywords: cancer imaging; cancer therapy; contrast agents; fluorescence-guided surgery; glioblastoma multiforme; multimodality imaging; personalized medicine; theranostics.