Nanotechnology Molecular Medicine and Radiology

摘要

We live in a time of great change, The many advances in medical imaging are examples of the process. We are, it seems, assaulted on all sides by new concepts and ideas that at first seem random and disordered. On closer evaluation, they may form with out input the future direction of our medial imaging specialty. We must be willing to examine and evaluate the new developments. Will we embrace and develop these ideas to further our practice or leave it to others?The purpose of this month's column is to explore ideas related to nanotechnology and how this developing technology may affect the future of radiology. As in all complex systems, many concepts play an indirect role in future development, and this is true for health care imaging. They include discoveries in genomics and proteinomics and the development of personalized medicine as a paradigm for tomorrow's health care. Although such a practice is in the future, the idea gives us a goal and a hint of what's to come. Personalized medicine can be described as medicine directed toward a single individual, not a group of individuals such as middle-aged men. The task is to identify the health care profile unique to an individual. To accomplish the goal, we must work at the molecular level, which is also the realm of nanotechnology. The technology presents the opportunity to combine the diagnosis of an individual's disease and, in some cases, its therapy.