This book outlines the history of the development of nuclear medicine and describes the hurdles that nuclear medicine has had to face, in view of the perception of risk of radiation. Up to the present day, the diagnosis and treatment of cancer has been primarily surgical. When a mass or an enlarged lymph node is detected, immediate attempts are made to remove it or obtain a histological diagnosis by biopsy. Today, characterization of molecular processes in cancerous lesions by PET can help to determine whether therapy should be aggressive or postponed. The most important reason for the rapid acceptance of PET imaging is its value in the care of patients with suspected or known cancer, for establishing the diagnosis, planning and monitoring therapy, and in detecting early recurrence. Written for nuclear medicine professionals, non-nuclear medicine physicians and the public, this book chronicles the development of nuclear medicine together with its basic philosophy in the past, present and future. TOC:Introduction.- Survival of the Luckiest.- So You Want To Be a Doctor.- First Taste of Research.- Medical School and House Staff.- The National Institutes of Health.- A New Medical Specialty.- The Early Days.- The Thyroid Paves The Way.- The Breakthrough to Lung Scanning.- Computers in Nuclear Medicine.- From the Lungs to the Heart.- Growth Out of Control.- Molecular Communication.- The Fight Against Infectious Disease.- A New Approach to Disease.- The Genetic Revolution.- Epilogue. Each year, at the annual meeting of the Society of Nuclear Medicine, Henry Wagner summarizes his view of principal advances in the ? eld. In A Personal History of Nuclear Medicine, he brings the same insight to the ? fty years he has practiced, preached and breathed nuclear medicine. That same ? fty years spans the era in which radioactivity has been harnessed to provide exquisite maps of physiologic function in the living human body. Thus, the book brings the perspective of an insider, whose own contributions have been particularly in? uential: leader of a premier program in education and research; founding member of the American Board of Nuclear Medicine; proponent of int- national cooperation and the World Congress, and much more. Because of Henry¿s positions and desire to meet and know colleagues throughout the world (he and his wife Anne are most gracious hosts and visitors) this autobiography is also a story of the major ? gures who grew the ? eld of nuclear medicine and made the discipline into a coherent one. The book also re? ects Henry¿s personality: his candor and un? inching way of telling it the way he thinks it is, his punctuated use of aphorisms (some of his own making), his deep understanding of who he is, and an innocent delight in many accomplishments. Some years ago, I suggested that Henry was a constructive troublemaker; someone who goaded us out of accepted wisdom into new, and sometimes outrageous, thinking.