Precision Medicine

The Peripheral Nerve Center at UCSF is comprised of a multidisciplinary team devoted to precisely assessing and addressing often painful and difficult-to-diagnose conditions of the peripheral nervous system. The Precision Spine Center run by the neuroradiology section of the Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging collaborates closely with the Peripheral Nerve Center and is one of the only centers in the world that routinely offers high-resolution imaging techniques including MR neurography as well as CT, MR and ultrasound image guided injections.

Diagnostic and interventional imaging at the new UCSF Bakar Precision Cancer Medicine Building (PCMB) is state of the art.

Image-guided spine injections, using contemporary techniques, can provide significant benefits in relation to pain relief, disability, and quality of life in patients; identify the specific pain generator; and help avoid surgery.

Medicine is not a “one-size-fits-all” field, yet some treatment plans rely on the same treatment across the board for all patients. Precision medicine, on the other hand, is an innovative approach that takes into account individual variability in patients’ genes, environments, and lifestyles. Dr. Steven Hetts discusses radiology's role in precision medicine.

Dr. Michael Evans and his colleagues at UCSF recently published a study that suggests carefully designed PET scans can be used to provide important biological information in place of biopsy.