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The recent revolution in molecular biology offers exciting new opportunities for targeted radionuclide therapy. This up-to-date, comprehensive book, written by world-renowned experts, discusses the basic principles of radionuclide therapy, explores in detail the available treatments, explains the regulatory requirements, and examines likely future developments. The full range of clinical applications is considered, including thyroid cancer, hematological malignancies, brain tumors, liver cancer, bone and joint disease, and neuroendocrine tumors. The combination of theoretical background and practical information will provide the reader with all the knowledge required to administer radionuclide therapy safely and effectively in the individual patient. Careful attention is also paid to the role of the therapeutic nuclear physician in coordinating a diverse multidisciplinary team, which is central to the safe provision of treatment.

This book is based on contributions presented at the 1st World Congress on Gallium-68 and Peptide Receptor Radionuclide Therapy, which examined recent developments in theranostics – the emerging field of molecular targeting of vectors that can be used for both diagnosis and therapy, when modified accordingly. The focus of this book is on the rapidly developing research into and clinical applications of gallium-68 and other generator-produced PET radionuclides in the personalized diagnosis and treatment of neuroendocrine tumors and other diseases. In addition, new PET radiopharmaceuticals are considered, and the latest ideas and concepts, presented. Theranostics embodies both molecular and personalized medicine. It is at the cutting edge of medicine, and the contents of this volume will be of interest to chemists, physicians, and investigators dealing with generators, PET radiochemistry, molecular imaging, and radionuclide therapy.

It was at Frankfurt/Mainin 1899 that Paul Ehrlich first expounded his famous'site-chain theory'-which described the basic immunological principal of antibody-antigen interactio- on the occasion of the opening of the Institute for Experimental Therapeutics (which was later named after him). Nearly 100 years have passed since, and in retrospect it can be said that the'Ehrlich Era'(first steps in immunology'Magic Bullet'concept) and the'Behring Era'(detection of antibodies and serum therapy) formed the essential basis in the development of immunology. Niels K. Jerne, the former director of the Paul Ehrlich Institute in Frankfurt/Main received, together with Georges Kohler and Cesar Milstein, the Nobel Prize in Medicine 1984. These late successors of Ehrlich and Behring first described the hybridoma technology (in 1975) which enabled one of the most important and revolutionary technological innovations in the field of immunology -the production of monoclonal antibodies. It happens that, the time of the publication of this book, just a decade has passed since the first use of radiolabelled monoclonal antibodies in man (by the Lausanne Group). Over these 10 years a tremendous progress has taken place in the field of immunoscintigraphy:A large panel of highly specific monoclonal antibodies against tumour-associated antigens as well as normal cell compounds have been developed. Enormous progress has been made in the field of radiolabelling -from iodine-131 to technetium-99mor even positron-emittingradionuclides, e. g. iodine-124.