ABSTRACT
A theranostic is dened as a material that combines the modalities of therapy and diagnostic imaging. us, theranostics deliver therapeutic drugs and diagnostic imaging agents at the same time within the same dose (Kelkar and Reineke, 2011). A theranostic can be broadly dened as a viable drug that incorporates some form of marker for the imaging of that drug in vitro, ex vivo, and, most importantly, in vivo (Rai et al., 2010; Lovell et al., 2011; Ng et al., 2011; Huang et al., 2012b). e eld of theranostics research is the area of science trying to integrate therapeutic applications with diagnostic imaging (Kelkar and Reineke, 2011). e term “theranostic” is formed by the combination of therapy and diagnostics-for the right drug at the right dose and moment. is term has been expanded to dene drugs that are developed for personalized medicine. eranostics agents play an important role especially in the eld of cancer as it is important to comprehend the location of the tumor, dene the type of cancer, its frontiers, and whether the disease has spread locally or systemically before beginning any treatment of cancer. When the nature of the disease is claried, ecient treatment options can be found so as to control the spread of the disease and diminish the primary tumor. A key factor of cancer detection and therapy is to deliver therapeutic agents selectively to tumors at eective concentrations. Present treatment processes include the use of diagnostic as well as therapeutic agents separately. e goal of the eld of theranostics is to have the capability to image, identify, and monitor the disease prior to and aer the treatment so as to optimize the treatment parameters and providing long-term tumor cure. A schematic illustration of theranostics contents is presented in Figure 11.1.
