Electromedia 69 (2001) No. 1
Hengerer A., Mertelmeier T.
The decoding of the human genome and the ensuing knowledge about pathological processes on the molecular level—as well as technological advances—will make imaging to an important molecular biological diagnostic method. Medical imaging using molecular biological techniques adapted from laboratory diagnostics is addressed as molecular imaging. Molecular imaging is increasingly used for research purposes to facilitate the examination of metabolic functions, patterns of gene expression, or pharmacological questions in the living organism. In medical diagnostics, molecular imaging will pave the way toward a significant improvement in the detection of disease-correlated molecules. Since changes on the molecular level always precede anatomical restructuring as detected in "conventional" imaging, molecular biological imaging methods enable diagnosis at an earlier stage in the course of a disease.
The present article outlines the driving forces for molecular imaging and provides an impression of the potential of these methods.