Molecular Imaging and Targeted Drug Delivery for Cardiovascular Diseases

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading cause of death globally, killing one in every three people. A number of clinical imaging modalities are currently used for the diagnosis of CVDs; however, many of these are used for functional readouts. The development of molecular imaging, focusing on the visualization of early CVDs biomarkers has the potential to provide early diagnosis and facilitate therapy. A range of technologies have been researched for molecular imaging, including ultrasound, CT, PET, MRI and optical imaging. Furthermore, several current clinical drugs used for the treatment of CVDs, especially thrombotic and ischemic events are often only effective in large doses, resulting in significant bleeding side effects, which further limits the widespread use of these drugs. Highly innovative targeting strategies and advanced generation of drug carriers have been utilized to overcome these unwanted complications. The discovery and application of novel concurrent diagnosis and therapy (theranostics) approach for CVDs has also emerged over the last years. Overall, these approaches aim to reduce mortalities and the healthcare burden of CVDs.

This Research Topic will accept Original Research, Opinions, Perspectives and Reviews on Molecular imaging and targeted drug delivery for cardiovascular diseases, in particular:
• Development Nano/Microparticles as imaging contrast agents and/or drug carriers
• New developments and applications of imaging techniques for CVDs imaging
• Novel Biomarkers of CVDs
• Concurrent diagnosis and therapy (theranostics) approaches for CVDs