Abstract
Molecular imaging (MI) is a method of determining the spatial and temporal status of molecular or cellular processes in the normal or abnormal state in living organs (Thakur and Lentle 2005). The current strategy in molecular imaging is to identify a target molecule in a specific organ or its disease state in a living organism, develop a high-affinity probe for the molecule, and ultimately use the probe to detect the distribution and pharmacodynamics of the molecule. A specific disease is inherently manifested by the changes in the “molecules” of the tissue that underlie the disease and imaging of these changes permits early detection of the disease. Molecular changes due to therapy of a disease also can be monitored by imaging leading to the assessment of the effectiveness of the treatment. MI employs a variety of techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), optical imaging, ultrasound, Raman spectroscopy and nuclear medicine. In the current context, only the application of MI in nuclear medicine will be discussed below.
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Saha, G.B. (2010). Molecular Imaging. In: Fundamentals of Nuclear Pharmacy. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-5860-0_14
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-5860-0_14
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