Bombardieri: Advances in Nuclear Oncology: Diagnosis and Therapy

There has been enormous progress in nuclear medicine in recent years, and the impact of this progress has been particularly noticeable in oncology. Research into molecular imaging has led to the development of radiopharmaceuticals that can explore the cellular metabolism, and visualize at molecular and subcellular levels the pathological processes specific to cancer. Equipment development has produced high-technology instruments such as those used in positron emission tomography (PET), able to produce high-quality images that have become indispensable in the diagnostic work-up of cancer patients, because they often reveal alterations and lesions not demonstrated by conventional morphologically oriented techniques such as X-ray imaging, ultrasound, computed tomography (CT), or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Research in the area of image fusion techniques has led to the design of software programs able to merge in a single image the molecular, functional, and metabolic information of nuclear medicine with the morphological information provided by radiology. Hybrid instruments (PET/CT, SPECT/CT) are now available which allow the fusion of images of a patient in just one diagnostic session. Intensive research is ongoing to obtain detectors, hardware, and software able to perform whole-body scans faster and with increasing spatial resolution, so that it may become possible to detect lesions on a submillimeter level. Nuclear medicine has made the step from bench to bedside, to a significant extent.
All of these achievements have had a great impact on not only the diagnosis but also the treatment of cancer. Improved, individually tailored therapy is now on the horizon. Radiopharmaceuticals developed specifically to target and visualize malignant tumors can also be used, at high doses, for therapeutic purposes. Nuclear medicine therapeutics thus takes advantage of selective radiopharmaceuticals that have demonstrated marked anticancer efficacy in many types of tumors. For example, in recent years, these techniques have been used and shown greatest efficacy in the treatment of lymphomas and neuroendocrine tumors.
The diagnostic and therapeutic achievements in nuclear medicine are the result of the interdisciplinary research efforts of cell biologists, chemists, pharmacologists, physicists, computer scientists, engineers, nuclear medicine physicians, and oncologists. The clinical implications of these achievements have made nuclear medicine indispensable in the management of cancer.
This textbook on modern nuclear medicine applications in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer describes the state of the art and the current position of nuclear medicine in the light of these recent developments. It is intended as a valuable update also for non-nuclear medicine specialists working in oncology. Nuclear medicine as part of molecular imaging and therapy has changed radically in the past decade. The growing importance and clinical impact of these changes for the near future has impelled the authors to record them in this book.

Contents
I: Biology of cancer
1. What is cancer?
2. Targets
II: Diagnostic applications
3. Primary brain tumors
4. Head and neck cancer
5. Lung cancer
6. Esophageal cancer
7. Colorectal cancer
8. Prostate cancer
9. Ovarian cancer
10. Breast cancer
11. Thyroid cancer
12. Adrenal tumors
13. Neuroendocrine gastroenteropancreatic tumors
14. Lymphoma
15. Bone and soft tissue tumors
16. Malignant melanoma
17. Cancer of unknown primary
9. Ovarian cancer
10. Breast cancer
11. Thyroid cancer
12. Adrenal tumors
13. Neuroendocrine gastroenteropancreatic tumors
14. Lymphoma
15. Bone and soft tissue tumors
16. Malignant melanoma
17. Cancer of unknown primary
III: Therapeutic applications
18. Therapy of differentiated thyroid cancer
19. Therapy of medullary thyroid cancer
20. Therapy of lymphoma
21. Therapy of neuroendocrine tumors
22. Therapy of bone metastases
23. Therapy of liver tumors
24. Therapy of colorectal cancer
25. Therapy of brain tumors
26. Therapy of ovarian cancer
IV:Methods and technology
27. New instrumentation
28. New radiopharmaceuticals for cancer diagnosis
29. Radiopharmaceuticals for therapy
30. New concepts in dosimetry and radiation protection
31. Advances in nuclear medicine imaging in oncology
32. Nuclear medicine-guided radiotherapy
Index 

Book Details

• Hardcover: 544 pages
• Publisher: INFRMA-HC; 1 edition (November 5, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1841846147
• ISBN-13: 978-1841846149
• Product Dimensions: 11.5 x 8.7 x 1.4 inches 

 List Price: $339.95

Tags: Nuclear Oncology