Despite 50 years of antibiotics, infection remains a major source of both morbidity and mortality. Immunosuppression, either secondary to drugs in transplant recipients or secondary to HIV, has expanded the number of microorganisms that are known to be pathogenic in man.
Imaging of infection has a vital role both in the initial diagnosis and in the continuing management of patients with infection or suspected infection. Functional imaging using nuclear medicine techniques has a unique role to play in identifying sites of infection in a wide range of patients with varying clinical...

In the past nuclear medicine has tended to develop in cycles governed by the development of new radiopharmaceuticals followed or preceded by advances in instrumentation. The development of alternative techniques, such as X-Ray Computer Tomography, NMR Imaging and Ultrasound have also had a stimulating effect and pointed the way to new developments. The development of Positron Emission Tomography, while in itself of limited application because of high costs involved, provided a great deal of information which led to the development of new organ or disease specific, single photon emitting...