ABSTRACT
Early stage diagnosis plays a key role to determine prognosis for diseases,
especially for fatal ailments such as cancer and cardiovascular diseases.
Molecular imaging provides critical information to diagnose a disease in its
earliest stage, which is an in vivo characterization and measurement of the
disease process at the cellular and molecular level. Its objective is to investigate
molecular basis and diagnose abnormalities of cellular functions as well as
follow up molecular processes in living organisms in a non-invasive way. To
image molecules in vivo, criteria such as the availability of high affinity probes,
the ability of probes to overcome physiological barriers, the use of signal
amplification strategies and the availability of sensitive, fast and high-resolution
imaging techniques must be met [1].
