title: Nuclear medicine in neurology and psychiatry.
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.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Nuclear Medicine, University College London, UK.
authors.forename: D C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.forename: L S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Pilowsky
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Ell
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001927:Brain Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000378:metabolism; D004341:Drug Evaluation; D006801:Humans; D009462:Neurology / Q000379:methods*; D009683:Nuclear Medicine; D011570:Psychiatry / Q000379:methods*; D011869:Radioligand Assay; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon