Nuclear medicine in neurology and psychiatry.

Costa, D C; Pilowsky, L S; Ell, P J · Lancet · 1999

review · Level V

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Abstract

Progress in nuclear medicine has always been a function of technological advances, and applications in neurology and psychiatry illustrate the point. Improvements in radiation detectors now allow for three-dimensional and quantitative mapping of the distribution of a labelled compound in the human brain. New ligands permit the study of specific functioning signals of the blood/brain barrier, blood flow, metabolism (oxygen, glucose, aminoacids), and neurotransmission (dopamine, benzodiazepine, serotonin receptors). The picomolar sensitivity of nuclear medicine can now be coupled to a wide group of ligands which offer specific information that can be obtained in no other way in the living patient.

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