The clinical aspects.

Clinical Aspects Pulmonary delivery of aerosol pharmaceutical agents is of increasing interest in medicine for a variety of reasons. First, aerosol delivery can be used for the local administration of drugs needed to treat pulmonary conditions. In this case, the drug is delivered directly into the target tissue, which has a number of advantages such as increased target specificity, quicker drug action, and decreased risk of systemic side effects. Current clinically available therapies, such as inhaled corticosteroid therapy for the treatment of asthma, already capitalize on these benefits. These treatments allow for patients to obtain the maximum benefit of anti-inflammatory drugs in the lungs while avoiding potentially serious side effects. Second, aerosol delivery can be used for administration of drugs needed to treat non-pulmonary conditions. The large surface area of the lung parenchyma allows for rapid application and absorption of drugs that may not be suitable for oral, transdermal, or other delivery systems. However, it is very important to be able to monitor these drug depositions quantitatively and accurately. Thus, it is important in the field of Biomedical Imaging to visualize these various drugs in 3-D.