Impact of Molecular Biology and New Technical Developments in Diagnostic Imaging

New developments in the field of high resolution imaging focus on functional parameters pertaining to disease-specific medical imaging. Such new diagnostic strategies are possible using scintigraphic techniques and, more recently, by MRI and US. In addition, new therapeutic concepts, including gene therapy, require specific tracers or contrast media for therapy monitoring, for example, enzyme activity and changes in receptor expression. For this purpose scientists conducting basic research, expecially molecular biologists, and clinicians must collaborate in order to exploit the available interdisciplinary knowledge in the development of new imaging technologies so as to incorporate the molecular signals of diseases.

1 Medical Imaging: Some Historical Aspects.- 2 Molecular Nuclear Medicine: From Genotype to Phenotype.- 3 Integrated Imaging of the Heart: New Clinical and Experimental Approaches.- 4 Principles and Clinical Applications of Functional Brain Imaging.- 5 Molecular Probing and Imaging by Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy: Possibilities for Imaging Gene Therapy.- 6 Tumour Targeting Using Peptides, Monoclonal Antibodies and Fragments.- 7 Future Challenges in the Use of Positron Emission Tomography for In Vivo Molecular Imaging.- 8 Pharmacological Studies with Positron Emission Tomography.- 9 Use of Complex Carbohydrates as Targets and Ligands for Imaging.- 10 Oligonucleotide Aptamers as Specific Targeting Devices in Diagnostics and Therapy.- 11 In Vivo Monitoring of Gene Therapy by Radiotracer Imaging.- 12 Intra- and Intercellular Recognition of Cell Signaling Using Oligonucleotides.- Previous Volumes Published in this Series.