dvances in imaging technology – coupled with an increased ability to identify molecular changes relevant to cancer initiation and progression – have opened new frontiers and hold the promise that it will soon be possible to noninvasively image the human body and treat cancer at its earliest stages.

In July 1997 NCI Director Dr. Richard Klausner convened a Working Group to help NCI plan how best to facilitate further progress in the development of imaging technologies for the early detection of cancer. Their charge was to recommend the research and resource infrastructure needed to

• Discover and develop techniques that will further increase the precision, accuracy, and scope of imaging diagnosis
• Promote the integration of imaging further into the practice of clinical oncology