New Era on Combining Both Imaging and Drug Delivery to Treat Cancer

Abstract

It is well documented that cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. During the pandemic, cancer screening was suspended, and only symptomatic patients were referred for screening. It is believed that deaths related to various cancer types have increased by around 10%, and the screening suspension was assumed as the main reason. It is well documented that the early diagnosis of cancer is important for the outcome; last decades, the introduction of nanotechnology-based carriers, which can serve as both imaging and therapeutic modalities, has risen. Although the combination of imaging and drug delivery for targeting cancer is a hopeful field, it is still under investigation and has not met clinical standards. Nanotheranostics, as they are also referred to, can combine both imaging and delivery and improve the survival rates and overall quality of life of patients. Would cancer patients have a chance to live a normal life if nano theranostics were incorporated into the daily clinical oncology practice? This review tries to answer this question by providing the most current applications of nanotheranostics targeting different types of cancer and summarizing their most significant characteristics.

Keywords: Cancer treatment; MRI; cancer; drug delivery; imaging; nanomedicine.