Preparation of apatite particles for medical diagnostic imaging

Abstract

Treated apatite particles are disclosed for enhancing medical diagnostic imaging such as magnetic resonance imaging ("MRI"), magnetic resonance spectroscopy ("MRS"), magnetic resonance spectroscopy imaging ("MRSI"), X-ray diagnostic imaging, and ultrasound imaging. Novel coating and manufacturing techniques are disclosed to control particle size and particle aggregation resulting in compositions for organ specific imaging of the liver, spleen, gastrointestinal tract, or tissue disease states is obtained. Depending on the diagnostic imaging technique, apatite particles are treated to be paramagnetic, radiopaque, or echogenic. The apatite particles may also be fluorinated to form stable fluoroapatite compositions useful for .sup.19 F imaging. Also disclosed are diagnostic compositions and methods of performing medical diagnostic procedures which involve administering to a warm-blooded animal a diagnostically effective amount of the above-described apatite particles and then performing the medical diagnostic procedure.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.