Chapter 3: Imaging Applications of Inorganic Nanomaterials

The introduction of new diagnostic imaging modalities in parallel with recent developments in nanomaterial science has led to the development of an explosive number of nanoplatforms for diagnostic molecular imaging applications. This chapter describes in a systematic way the types of nanomaterials used for imaging, based on their physicochemical properties. It further correlates them with the corresponding imaging modalities where they can be applied by describing the physical basis of their imaging contrast effects. Their advantages and disadvantages are described and the ways they can be optimally combined into multimodal probes for recently developed hybrid imaging techniques are discussed. Selected in vivo applications of single and multimodal nanoprobes are described. The bodistribution, excretion, and toxicity of nanoparticles, which can limit their success in clinical translation, are also explored. Finally, a few cases undergoing clinical translation are presented and discussed.