Redefining disease through advances in nuclear medicine

Full text: Nuclear Imaging has progressed significantly in the last decade. The disease is being explored at receptor antigenic and biochemical level. The Molecular Imaging with tracers such as the 18-Fluro-Deoxy-Glucose (FDG), 11C-thymidine, 18-Fluro-Estradiol have enabled us to look into different aspects of disease. The FDG helps us in understanding aggressiveness of tumor and thereby survival of a cancer patient. It is enabling us to redefine disease at metabolic level leading to 'Metabolic Classification' of disease. The 18-Fluro-Estradiol scan is exploring breast cancer at receptor level and has enabled us to understand why some breast cancer patients do not respond to the hormone therapy. The 11C-Thymidine scan is able to image proliferative capacity of a tumor and thereby impact on the treatment approach. In addition to the field on oncology, recent advances in Nuclear Imaging are now providing valuable insights in understanding of various other human diseases. We are now redefining Alzheimer's disease and some of the psychiatric illnesses like Schizophrenia and Depression through the new Nuclear Imaging techniques. The years ahead will see extensive application of Nuclear Imaging technology in human disorders. Metabolic Classification of disease would bring out the processes underlying the causation and manifestation of diverse human disorders and help redefine the disease with the aim of more effective and less toxic personalized medicine