Letter from the editors

Article Outline

• Copyright

A REMARKABLE number of new terms have been incorporated into our medical vocabulary during the last decade. Although genes and chromosomes were part of the medical school curriculum, further knowledge was limited for most of us. Now it is necessary to learn about reporter genes, encoding enzymes, receptors, antigens, transporters, promoters, transduction, antisense, and countless other concepts that are bringing us into the 21^st century. Despite these great advances, a basic truth remains: Nuclear medicine is, has been, and continues to be the practice of molecular medicine. Although we did not use this term, we have from the very beginning been looking into the cell. Now, we have the opportunity to explore deeper, and to visualize and accomplish more.

Doctors Haberkorn, Altmann, Mier, and Eisenhut have done a wonderful job summarizing for us where we are and where we are going with genomics and proteomics, as well as how it relates to clinical nuclear medicine. The editors have singled out 2 specific areas that are discussed by Haberkorn and coworkers for a more detailed review because of their timelines and impact on nuclear medicine. Doctors Dadachova and Carrasco review in great detail the Na⁺/I⁻ symporters, an area in which both of these individuals have made seminal contributions. It is remarkable how we continue to learn about the basics of thyroid function and disease, even though this was the first clinical application of nuclear medicine technology more then 50 years ago. The description of the Na⁺/I^- symporter provides us with a critical component of the thyroid and its relationship to iodide. We now understand the extension of this system to other origins and its potential impact on diseases beyond the thyroid, such as breast cancer. Another important molecule to the nuclear medicine practitioner is somatostatin. This was one of the first areas in which the nuclear medicine physician began to become conversant with receptors and receptors imaging. Doctor Buchsbaum brings us up to date on where this field is going.

The numerous contributions of Bill Strauss to cardiovascular nuclear medicine do not need listing. He and his coworkers, Doctors Grewal and Pandit-Taskar, present to us the implications of molecular imaging in cardiology. They express the editors’ sentiments nicely in their quotation “Nuclear Medicine imaging has always been molecular imaging.” They add a few more terms that we need to be conversant with: apoptosis, matrix metalloproteinases, and vascular endothelial growth factor, among others. Cardiovascular nuclear medicine is clearly moving on from myocardial imaging, which has become a routine clinical tool, to a more exciting and more broadly based future.

It is beginning to appear as if no issue of the Seminars in Nuclear Medicine is complete without a contribution from Abass Alavi. One of the “old guard” of nuclear medicine, Doctor Alavi continues to be as remarkably productive now as he was 20 years ago. Doctors Alavi, Kung, and Zhuang predict a remarkable, productive future for positron emission tomography (PET) with the maturation of molecular imaging. We share their enthusiasm, although perhaps with a little less zeal. Surely, PET will facilitate the growth of molecular imaging just as molecular imaging will facilitate the growth of PET.

The final article in this issue is perhaps paradoxical in its placement. The discussion of neurochemical imaging of dementia by Doctors Minoshima, Frye, Cross, and Kuhl deals with the earliest and one of the most impressive applications of molecular imaging. The effect of work in this area on our understanding of brain physiology and function has been extensive. The authors have done a remarkable job of summarizing an incredibly complex and important application of molecular imaging. Doctor Kuhl is a pioneer in this area and one of the giants in nuclear medicine. We are grateful to have him participate as a coauthor of this review.

Although many things in this issue are not currently clinical practice, the reader should be put on notice. This is where we are going. We appreciate the efforts of our colleague, Doctor Kate Dadachova, serving as Guest Editor and formulating this exciting “cutting edge” issue of Seminars in Nuclear Medicine.