Polymeric micelles as carriers of diagnostic agents

This review deals with diagnostic applications of polymeric micelles composed of amphiphilic block-copolymers. In aqueous solutions these polymers spontaneously form particles with diameter 20-100 nm. A variety of diagnostic moieties can be incorporated covalently or non-covalently into the particulates with high loads. Resulting particles can be used as particulate agents for diagnostic imaging using three major imaging modalities: gamma-scintigraphy, magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography. The use of polyethyleneoxide-diacyllipid micelles loaded with chelated In-111/Gd3+ as well as iodine-containing amphiphilic copolymer in percutaneous lymphography and blood pool/liver imaging are discussed as specific examples. (C) 1999 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.