Bücher der Reihe Developments in Nuclear Medicine

Parameters such as membrane transport, metabolism and protein incorporation govern the fate of amino acids in living tissue.

Can drug development and evaluation be improved by the use of positron emission tomography (PET)? PET is now well established and many PET centres participate in networks that warrant the quality of their research. PET allows one to follow the effect of a drug on a variety of patients' metabolic parameters. In addition, PET may be used to follow the fate in vivo of a compound, allowing visualisation of its binding to specific receptors and a direct study of the mechanism of drug action in normal and pathological situations. The book shows the fields in which PET offers new and unique information for the development of drugs (conception, toxicity, pharmacokinetics and metabolism, clinical research, and relations between clinical and biological effects) and evaluates fields in which PET may shorten the development time of drugs. Audience: Professionals in the pharmaceutical industry in all areas of drug discovery and pharmacology, pre-clinical testing, pharmacokinetics and metabolism, clinical evaluation, registration and regulatory affairs. Government health authority representatives who assess data and documentation on new drug development and radiopharmaceuticals. Academic experts concerned with any of these areas.

Proceedings of a Workshop Held Oct. 23-25, 1986, in Cologne, FRG, Sponsored by the Commission of the European Communities as Advised by the Committee on Medical and Public Health Research

Safety and Efficacy of Radiopharmaceuticals was established as a very important and comprehensive subject at the First Europe an Symposium on Radiopharmacy and Radiopharmaceuticals in Denmark in 1983.

AIMS OF THE COLOGNE-SYMPOSIUM ON RADIOLABELLED PLATELETS In 1976, M. Because of its physical characteristics (2.8 days half-life, 94% gamma emission) 111 Indium turned out to be the best isotope for platelet kinetic studies as well as for the measurement of platelet incorporation by Thrombi to be used up until now.

The publication of this volume, which is based upon presentations made to the Third European Symposium on Radiopharmacology at Noordwijkerhout, April 22 - 24, 1982, is indicative of the continued interest in this sub-branch of Nuclear Medicine.

During the past decade Positron Emission Tomography (PET) has turned from a highly sophisticated tool developed for basic research in neurology and cardiology into an advanced nuclear medicine imaging technique ready for routine use.

It was at Frankfurt/Mainin 1899 that Paul Ehrlich first expounded his famous "site-chain theory" -which described the basic immunological principal of antibody-antigen interactio- on the occasion of the opening of the Institute for Experimental Therapeutics (which was later named after him).

Although the clinical importance of hypoxia imaging is obviously great, to date neither the clinical nor the scientific community at an international level has focused many research activities on the hypoxia problem.

The book shows the fields in which PET offers new and unique information for the development of drugs (conception, toxicity, pharmacokinetics and metabolism, clinical research, and relations between clinical and biological effects) and evaluates fields in which PET may shorten the development time of drugs.

In the past nuclear medicine has tended to develop in cycles governed by the development of new radiopharmaceuticals followed or preceded by advances in instrumentation.

"More than half of the world's population is at risk of the tropical diseases malaria, leprosy, schistosomiasis, lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, Chagas' disease, African trypanosomiasis and leishmaniasis and half a billion are infected with at least one of these diseases".

Among the readily available -emitting radionuclides, the nuclides of iodine have the greatest versatility in labeling both the hydrophilic and the lipophilic compounds that are used in biology and medicine. Although ~c is used more widely in diagnostic procedures, the radionuclides of iodine will always have a major role in biology and medicine.

The contents of this volume are based upon presentations made to the Second European Symposium on Radiopharmacy and Radiopharmaceuticals which was held in St. Catharine's College Cambridge in March 1985.

This publication contains a collection of 22 manuscripts by authors invited to write review articles. They are based on lectures presented on the First and Second Training Course in Radiopharmacy and Radiopharmacology. These courses were organized under the auspices of the "Joint Committee on Radiopharmaceuticals" of both European Societies of Nuclear Medicine (ENMS and SNME) and were sponsored by the European Society of Nuclear Medicine (ENMS). Recent developments in radiopharmacy and radiopharmacology have been very complex; they cannot be overlooked by the medical staff in nuclear medical departments. This book has been written to provide access to recent research and to practical daily routine in patients' investigations. It provides a wide-ranging and topical overview of radiopharmacology in­ cluding chapters on basic chemistry and physics, incorporation dosimetry, interference of drugs in radiopharmacokinetics, legal aspects and stable isotope-labelled pharmaceuticals. Style of presentation is not uniform. Par­ tial overlapping concerning the content of papers has not been avoided in order to ensure different views and aspects of the same subject. We hope that the interdisciplinary approach will be stimulating and thought-provok­ ing for the reader. Consequently, this book is designed for specialists work­ ing in nuclear medical centres which involve different disciplines such as pharmacists, radiochemists, physicists, biochemists, biologists, mathemati­ cians, electronic engineers, physicians with different specialities, and tech­ nicians.

However, a major new direction of interest now lies in the development of receptor-binding radio-tracers which can be used to perform in-vivo characterisation of diseased tissues and it is likely that much of the future research in this field will follow this direction.

Next the text follows the usual pattern of discussion on the pharmacodynamics of radiopharmaceuticals, followed by a description of various clinical disease patterns of the liver and the use of cholescintigraphy in evaluating these diseases.

Although the clinical importance of hypoxia imaging is obviously great, to date neither the clinical nor the scientific community at an international level has focused many research activities on the hypoxia problem.

The application of 3D methodology has recently been receiving increasing attention at many PET centres, and this monograph is an attempt to provide a state-of-the-art review of this methodology, covering 3D reconstruction methods, quantitative procedures, current tomography performance, and clinical and research applications.

Radiochemical methodology constitutes the most important base for the successful functioning of a PET group in the routine production and development of radiopharmaceuticals.

Radiochemical methodology constitutes the most important base for the successful functioning of a PET group in the routine production and development of radiopharmaceuticals.

The application of 3D methodology has recently been receiving increasing attention at many PET centres, and this monograph is an attempt to provide a state-of-the-art review of this methodology, covering 3D reconstruction methods, quantitative procedures, current tomography performance, and clinical and research applications.