Radiopharmaceutical Chemistry Between Imaging And Endoradiotherapy [Hardcover]

Positron emission tomography (PET), single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), and the combined imaging modalities realised in the en-vogue hybrid technologies PET/CT and PET/MR represent the state-of-the-art diagnostic imaging technologies in nuclear medicine which are used for the highly sensitive non-invasive imaging of biological processes at the subcellular and molecular level in a respective patient for the visualisation of rather early disease states or for early inspection of treatment response after chemotherapy, radiation- or radioendotherapy.

Radiolabelled molecules, bearing a radioactive lantern, function as so called Radiopharmaceuticals which have to be compliant with the pharmaceuticals act, and can be termed as food of nuclear medicine. In general, the specialised field Radiopharmaceutical Chemistry focusses on the development, synthesis and radiolabelling of aforementioned food, such as small molecules, biotechnology-derived antibodies or (cyclised) (oligo)peptides which are used to address clinically relevant biological downstream targets such as receptors, enzymes, transport systems and others. Addressing upstream targets such as DNA- and RNA-fragments using corresponding radioactive substrates represents a further feasible strategy.

Originally, Radiopharmaceutical Chemistry descends from radiochemistry and radiopharmacy as well as nuclear chemistry and uses methods finally aiming at the production of radioactive substances for human application which are essential for non-invasive in vivo imaging by means of the aforementioned scintigraphic methods PET or SPECT.

The cornerstone for applicable radiochemistry in nuclear medicine was set by the Hungarian chemist George Charles de Hevesy who received the Nobel Prize in 1943 for his work on the radioindicator principle. This principle is based on the idea that the absolute amount of the administered substance is below the dose needed to induce a pharmacodylót