[Future prospects for nuclear medicine].

Today nuclear medicine is expected to be the most sensitive approach to measure in vivo physiology, biochemistry and metabolism. Since in most of the pathophysiological process, the alternation of the organ function occurs much earlier than morphological changes. To achieve quantitatively this measurement improvements in instrumentation (SPECT, PET) and radiopharmaceuticals are essential. Nuclear physicians and researchers in many institutions and industries are continuing to provide new radiopharmaceuticals, instruments and methodologies. Nuclear medicine is defined as topographic physiological chemistry, not anatomical orientation, marking it possible to evaluate the biochemical and physiological abnormalities at the cellular level, so that it could guide to treat the patients more effectively and predict the response to the treatments. The future developement of nuclear medicine depends on an infrastructure of physics, mathematics and chemical biology. Another important role of nuclear medicine is the application of radiopharmaceuticals emitting beta-ray for the treatment of diseases, especially malignant neoplasms. At present we have several options; thyroid cancer and thyrotoxicosis with I-131, neuroblastoma and pheochromocytoma with I-131-MIBG, and bone pain palliation in patients with bone metastases with Sr-89. The expansion of this field is crucial for nuclear medicine, and we believe this could happen more extensively than expected.