Ionizing imaging modalities, often working in tandem with a contrast agent, are required to visualize optically transparent organs such as the bladder and lymph nodes. As a result, research is ongoing to find alternative methods that rely on non-ionizing radiation. Writing in Physics in Medicine and Biology, researchers from Korea and the US present one such approach: the use of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) as a contrast agent in photoacoustic imaging (Phys. Med. Biol. 57 7853)……

http://nanotechweb.org/cws/article/tech/52066