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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 mappi ng of the distribution of a labeled 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, benzodiazepin e, 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. |
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