Zimmermann Nuclear medicine

Radioactivity for diagnosis and therapy
2. Auflage 2021
ISBN: 978-2-7598-2149-5
Verlag: De Gruyter
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 216 Seiten

Nuclear medicine is a growing specialized medical field in which radiopharmaceuticals, i.e. drugs associated to radioactivity, are used for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes. Since 1942, nuclear medicine has progressed in such a way that it became a major diagnostic tool in hospitals. The past ten years have seen the introduction of major technical breakthroughs which will considerably modify the landscape of cancer treatment.
Once injected to the patient, the radiopharmaceutical drug aims at the tumour cell – including metastases – selectively, settles there, and emits radiation. Depending on the radiation type, the drug will either help identify the cells or destroy them. Applications are not limited to oncology; indeed, nuclear medicine has found interesting applications in cardiology and neurology as well.The new millennium saw the introduction of the Hybrid imaging technology PET/CT which combines the Positron Emission Tomography (PET) modality with conventional high quality x-ray imaging. It took another two years until PET could be combined with Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) in the hybrid equipment PET/MR. New tracers (drugs for diagnosis) also came on the market with different diseases as targets, such as prostate cancer, neuroendocrine tumours, or Alzheimer’s disease. But the recent introduction of radiotherapeutics in the treatment of cancer has brought major changes on the market, for they can be much more powerful and specific than chemotherapeutics or external radiation therapy. Combining radiodiagnostics to select positive responders to a treatment with efficient radiotherapeutics opens a highway for the development of theranostics, another word for personalized medicine.This scientific book aims to introduce nuclear medicine to a larger audience, pointing out, among other things, the difficulties met by both physicians and patients when trying to access new technologies. This second edition shows how much progress has been made over the past ten years since the original book was published, and how much can be expected for patients within the next few years.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Zimmermann, Richard

Fachgebiete

• Medizin | Veterinärmedizin Medizin | Public Health | Pharmazie | Zahnmedizin Medizin, Gesundheitswesen Medizintechnik, Biomedizintechnik, Medizinische Werkstoffe
• Technische Wissenschaften Sonstige Technologien | Angewandte Technik Medizintechnik, Biomedizintechnik

Über Autor(innen)

Contributor: Richard Zimmermann Richard Zimmermann est chimiste, Docteur en sciences physique. Il s'est spécialisé en pharmacologie moléculaire. Après une carrière de recherche, il est désormais le Directeur des projets TEP Europe (Tomographie à émission de positons) au sein de CISBio-Shering. (au moment de la parution de l'ouvrage)-------------

RICHARD ZIMMERMANN has spent fifteen years in the research departments of conventional pharmaceutical industries based in France, Germany, and the Netherlands, in fields such as cardiology, immunology, and gastroenterology. Since 1999, he has been actively involved in the industrial nuclear medicine field. He started as Head of Research and Development at Saclay, France; he then became Head of PET Business Europe, and was later appointed Head of Business
Development for a large radiopharmaceutical group. He has been an independent consultant since 2012 (Chrysalium Consulting); in addition, he is the chairman of two companies which are active in this field, and he is a board member and advisory board member of several other radiopharmaceutical companies. He has also initiated – and currently chairs – the Oncidium Foundation, aiming to promote radiotherapeutics.