Hypoxia

a common status of most solid tumors

is associated with tumor progression

metastasis

radiotherapy and chemotherapy resistance. Positron emission tomography (PET) and single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) using hypoxic-targeting radiopharmaceuticals have been applied to non-invasive monitoring of tumor hypoxia. Nitroimidazole

which could be selectively trapped within hypoxia cells

has become an important pharmacophore for targeting hypoxia. Recently

hypoxic-targeting radiopharmaceuticals containing nitroimidazole have been developed for detecting tumor hypoxia. In this review

the progress of hypoxic-targeting radiopharmaceuticals containing nitroimidazole in recent ten years was introduced and the future development direction was also prospected.