Nuclear medicine imaging of CNS: Basis and clinical applications

Abstract

In this chapter, we present a brief review of the anatomy, physiology, and pathophysiology of the brain. This will lay the background for a more in-depth presentation of the physiological basis for use of nuclear medicine methods in disease diagnosis and therapy management. This will be discussed in the context of radiopharmaceuticals commonly used to diagnose brain diseases. The specifi c patterns of radiotracer distribution in diseases related to the brain will be related to the pathophysiology of the disease process.