Inorganic nanoparticles for theranostic use

Nanomedicine is defined as the application of nanomaterials to address health care problems. The recent trend in this field is the achievement of theranostic nanoparticles or nanosystems that can fulfill a therapeutic action and at the same time deliver diagnostic information through an imaging probe. The use of nanostructures in medicine has been widely explored during the last 20. years and a plethora of systems were developed; most of them, more recently, were studied as potential theranostic agents. These nanoparticles can be classified on the basis of their chemical nature, dividing them as organic (including the polymeric ones) or inorganic. On the basis of a large literature survey, the most recent reports on multifunctional theranostic inorganic nanoparticles are discussed in this chapter. Four kinds of materials have been selected: calcium phosphate, iron oxide, gold- and silica-based nanoparticles. For each group, the most important characteristics of the materials, the advantages and disadvantages and the most recent applications as theranostic agents are reported, highlighting whether the innovative electrofluidodynamic technologies are used for their preparation and/or can improve the efficacy of these systems.