Imaging turns focus on the genesis of disease

By JULIE STEENHUYSEN in Chicago

Since the advent of the x-ray more than 100 years ago, doctors have peered inside the human body.

But, until recently, the most they were able to detect was a broken bone or the presence of a sizeable tumour.

Now, with advances in genetic research, the makers of medical imaging equipment are retooling their cameras to spot tiny changes within cells that signal the start of a disease - the point at which doctors have the best shot at a cure.

"It's totally different from the way we take care of patients now," said Samuel Wickline, professor of medicine, physical and biomedical engineering at Washington University School of Medicine in Missouri.

"Molecular imaging will enable you to detect the early stages of disease."

For patients, it offers the promise of finding diseases such as Alzheimer's and cancer years before clear symptoms develop.

For pharmaceutical companies, it promises to get drugs to market quicker by letting scientists see whether drugs work within days, rather than taking weeks or months.

"The promise is to track and detect diseases before they actually manifest as an illness in the patient," said Dr Eric Russell, chairman of radiology at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago.

Molecular imaging combines gene and protein-based research with new diagnostic drugs that zero in on diseased cells. The drugs are tagged with radioactive tracers that show up as a bright spot on imaging equipment, creating a microscope that can see into the human body.

Because molecular imaging depends on chemical agents to enhance the pictures taken on imaging cameras, imaging hardware makers are rapidly assembling drug research capabilities.

They have formed molecular imaging departments, acquired specialty device makers and forged strategic partnerships with makers of diagnostic and therapeutic drugs.

Professor Wickline said: "All of the imaging companies have figured out that this is the next horizon."

- REUTERS