diagnostic

A drink taken before brain surgery that makes high-grade glioma glow under blue light, letting surgeons remove more tumour safely.

An experimental PET scan from Xiamen that lights up cancer carrying the TROP2 protein, the target of several antibody-drug conjugates.

An experimental PET scan from Shanghai that shows TROP2 in breast cancer, and showed that the amount of TROP2 changes with treatment.

The chalky drink swallowed before some CT scans and X-rays so the gullet, stomach and bowel show up clearly.

A drink of iodine-based dye used to outline the gut on X-rays and CT scans, especially when a leak or perforation is possible and barium would be unsafe.

An iron-based MRI dye designed to show whether lymph nodes contain cancer. Its European application was withdrawn in 2007 and it is not authorised there.

An iron-based MRI dye, not gadolinium, approved in the United States in 2025 for brain scans in adults with known or suspected brain tumours.

Pixclara is a tracer for a PET scan of the brain. After treatment for a glioma, it helps doctors tell whether a change seen on a scan is the tumour growing back or damage caused by the treatment, alongside the other tests.

Fluciclovine F-18 was the first PET tracer approved for finding recurrent prostate cancer after treatment (2016), and has been largely superseded since 2020 by PSMA PET.

A PET scan that shows which breast cancer deposits still have oestrogen receptors, helping decide whether hormone therapy will work when biopsy is impractical.

An MRI dye given into a vein for scans of the brain and spine and for imaging blood vessels.

A widely used MRI dye given into a vein. Its American licence includes brain and spine scans and breast MRI to see how far a breast cancer extends.

An older MRI dye given into a vein for scans of the brain, spine, chest, abdomen and pelvis.

A newer MRI dye given into a vein, approved in 2022 in the United States and 2023 in Europe, for brain and body scans including the liver, breast, lung and prostate in Europe.

A gadolinium MRI dye approved in the United States in 2026 for brain and body scans.

An MRI dye given into a vein for scans of the brain and spine, used for example to show brain tumours and metastases.

An MRI dye given into a vein for scans of the brain, spine, and head and neck.

An MRI dye injected into a vein that is absorbed by healthy liver cells, so spots in the liver that are not normal liver tissue show up clearly. It is used to find and characterise liver tumours.

The PET scan for neuroendocrine tumours that finds far more disease than older scans and confirms eligibility for lutetium radioligand therapy (the theranostic pair).

SomaKit TOC is a kit used to make a radioactive tracer for a PET scan in adults known or thought to have a neuroendocrine tumour of the gut or pancreas. The tracer sticks to the tumour cells so the scan can show where the tumour started and where it has spread.

A blue dye given into a vein near the end of an operation on the pelvis, so the surgeon can see blue urine coming from each ureter and check they were not damaged.

A CT and angiography dye given into a vein or artery.

One of the commonest dyes used for CT scans, given into a vein, by mouth or in other ways depending on the scan.

A CT and angiography dye approved in the United States in 2024.

A CT and X-ray dye made by Bracco, sold for injection into a vein and, in a separate form, into the spinal fluid for myelography.

A CT dye given into a vein. In the United States it is also licensed for contrast-enhanced mammography, a breast X-ray taken after the dye to show cancers that ordinary mammograms can miss.

An X-ray dye put into the bladder through a catheter to outline the bladder and urethra.

A CT and angiography dye given into a vein or artery.

A blue dye injected near a tumour before surgery. It travels to the nearest lymph nodes and stains them blue, helping the surgeon find the sentinel node.

A liver MRI dye based on manganese that was authorised in Europe from 1997 to 2012 for finding liver metastases and liver cancer, and is no longer available.

Lumeblue is a blue dye taken as tablets the day before a colonoscopy. It stains the lining of the bowel so that the doctor can see polyps and early cancers more easily during screening or follow-up.

An injected dye that makes ovarian and lung cancer deposits glow during surgery so surgeons can find lesions they would otherwise miss.

A cavity-imaging dye used during breast lumpectomy to spot leftover tumour before the operation ends; in its main trial it spared a second operation for 9 of 62 patients whose margins were positive.

Gas bubbles injected into a vein during a heart ultrasound to show the heart's pumping chamber more clearly when the ordinary picture is not good enough.

Gas bubbles in a protein shell injected into a vein during a heart ultrasound to show the heart's pumping chamber more clearly.

Tiny gas bubbles injected into a vein during an ultrasound scan. In the liver they show how a lump fills with blood, which helps tell liver cancer and other lesions apart without radiation.

The purpose-built tracer for sentinel lymph node mapping in breast cancer, melanoma and oral cancer, replacing off-label sulfur colloid.