Nuclear medicine for optimized treatment strategy and real-time therapy imaging

PET and SPECT provide us with information about biological quantitative values at localized area, even at the deep component of human. They usually have been used for diagnosis, but when combining with radiotherapy, PET and SPECT images would be helpful to make a decision on radiation-dose distribution for treatment because the patient images can be obtained in the similar condition under radiation therapy. In addition, anti-tumor effect of radiation therapy is now precisely controlled for target. Therefore, precise information of tumor, such as extent of tumor and heterogeneity within tumor, would make the treatment more effective, while normal organ functions are preserved. What nuclear medicine can do for the ideal treatment is discussed in this section. (author)