LIPOSOMES AS DELIVERY AGENTS FOR MEDICAL IMAGING

Medical imaging requires an appropriate intensity of signal from the a rea of interest in order to differentiate certain structures from surr ounding tissues, regardless of the modality used, In the majority of c ases, contrast agents specific for each imaging modality are necessary to achieve a sufficiently intense signal, To facilitate the accumulat ion of contrast in the required zone, various microparticulates have b een suggested as carriers for contrast agents, Among these carriers, l iposomes - microscopic artificial phospholipid vesicles - draw special attention because of their easily controlled properties and useful ph armacological characteristics. This review will discuss how the advant ages of liposomes have been used so far in the rapidly growing field o f diagnostic medical imaging.