Basis of radiopharmaceutical localization

Abstract

Biochemical reaction is the language of health and disease because the body is a vast network of interacting molecules and if the defi nition of the disease is currently molecular, diagnosis becomes “molecular” [ 1 ]. Because the treatment of many diseases involves biochemical reactions, it becomes more and more appropriate that biochemistry be the basis of diagnosis and of the planning and monitoring of treatment [ 2 ]. Nuclear medicine, in the simplest terms, is the medical specialty based on radionuclide imaging of the regional biochemistry in the living human body. In the 1920s, Georg DeHevesy coined the term “radioindicator” (radiotracer) and introduced the “tracer principle” to the biomedical sciences [ 2 ]. One of the most important characteristics of a true tracer is the ability to study the components of a homeostatic system without disturbing their function (i.e., does not elicit a pharmacodynamic action).