Nanoparticles in Medical Imaging

© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013. And Gregor Cevc 2013. All rights reserved. Research output in the area of medical and molecular imaging has grown exponentially in the last decade. A key driver of this endeavour stems from the insight that a much more detailed understanding of the biological basis of disease and the body’s interactions with therapeutics will be required to drive the next stage of medical and therapeutic development. Medical and molecular imaging techniques today increasingly allow us to study biological process in the individual in real time. Nanoparticles have proven to be highly versatile structures that can be engineered to change their biological properties systematically. In this chapter we will examine how the use of nanoparticles as imaging agents (contrast agents, dyes, probes, or labels) can help to improve the imaging output. The key properties of the most important in vivo imaging modalities applicable to pre-clinical and clinical use will be examined and key examples of the application of nanoparticles discussed