Role and implication of nanomaterials in clinical diagnostics

Clinical diagnosis is imperative for detecting the early onset of disease, complete health checks, and effective treatment. Current diagnostics techniques have several drawbacks such as low sensitivity, inability to detect multiple analytes and side effects of contrast agents, etc. Nanomaterials-based clinical diagnosis methods are expected to overcome the aforementioned limitation predominantly by enhancing the contrast, sensitivity, specificity, and miniaturizing the sensing platform. Nanomaterials have the potential to be used in various imaging-based disease diagnoses including computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, ultrasound imaging, positron emission tomography, photoacoustic imaging, and the development of nanodevices and nano-biosensors. This book chapter provides a comprehensive discussion of the recent advancements in nanomaterials-based contrast agents in various imagining modalities, and incorporation in nanodevices and nanosensors for clinical diagnosis.