Image-Guided Drug Delivery

From intraoperative guidance to remote drug release, the term image-guided drug delivery (IGDD) broadly refers to the utilization of imaging techniques to facilitate drug therapy. With the emerging advances in nanotechnology, the concept of IGDD has increasingly become associated with co-delivery of therapeutic and diagnostic elements incorporated into nanoscale carriers. These carriers, named theranostic nanoplatforms, are of special interest in the oncology field and have been studied in a broad range of applications, such as evaluation of therapeutic response, assessment of pharmacokinetics and biodistribution, and remote control of drug release. IGDD is also considered a promising technology for precision medicine, with the potential to promote individualized diagnosis and therapy for cancer patients on the basis of biomarker’s expression. The suitability of a nanoplatform for an application drives the engineering decisions behind the carrier’s characteristics, signaling agent and matching imaging modality. Herein, IGDD is discussed in the context of preclinical and clinical applications of theranostic nanoplatforms, highlighting molecular imaging modalities and cancer targeting strategies. In this chapter we also describe broader IGDD applications beyond the use of theranostic systems.