Detection and Description of Tissue Disease: Advances in the Use of Nanomedicine for Medical Imaging - Harnessing Biomaterials in Nanomedicine: Preparation, Toxicity, and Applications - page 241

Chapter 8
Detection and Description of Tissue
Disease: Advances in the Use of
Nanomedicine for Medical Imaging
Jason L.J. Dearling and Alan B. Packard
Division of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, Department of Radiology,
Children's Hospital, Boston and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
[e-mail]
Medical imaging off ers a powerful tool for the detection and
characterization of disease. In order to take full advantage of the
possibilities off ered, imaging agents with specific uptake in the
target tissue are required. The development of these agents presents
several challenges, as the agents must have sufficient absolute uptake
at the target site to be detectable, must clear from other tissues to
achieve contrast, and should be non-toxic and non-immunogenic.
In this chapter, we discuss how the use of biomaterials has
advanced the development of novel nanoparticles as contrast agents
for computed tomography (CT) and ultrasound (US).
8.1 Introduction
An essential role of medical imaging is the ability to discriminate
between normal and diseased tissue. This discrimination can be