ABSTRACT
Tomographic imaging started with clinical x-ray computed
tomography (CT) in 1972.1 Since then, CT technology has
advanced significantly and clinical CT became radiology’s
powerhouse. In addition to clinical CT imaging there is an
increasing need for pre-clinical examinations such as scans of
tissue samples, organs or whole animals (in-vitro or in-vivo)
that are used as models to evaluate human diseases and ther-
apies.2 For example non-invasive imaging of mice gains in
importance due to recent advances in mouse genomics and
the production of transgenic mouse models. Longitudinal
studies that use a single animal population can provide inter-
nally consistent long-term data and help to reduce the
number of sacrificed animals and to cut down the costs.
