Nuclear Medicine : A Global Link For The Scientific Community

Nuclear medicine has been around for more than 50 years now and stems from the discovery of x-rays and artificial radioactivity. In 1946, nuclear medicine made a monumental breakthrough when radioactive iodine led to the complete disappearance of cancer in a patient’s thyroid. Nuclear medicine became widely used in the 1950’s to measure the function of the thyroid, to diagnose thyroid disease, and for the treatment of patients with hyperthyroidism. By the 1970’s nuclear medicine was used to visualize other organs of the body other than the thyroid such as scanning of the liver and spleen, localizing brain tumors, and images of the gastrointestinal track. The use of digital computers and detection of heart disease arose in

Nuclear medicine technology has advantages and disadvantages just as any other career. Using nuclear medicine technology could diagnose a lot of harmful diseases. Also, it is more effective treatment for most categories of cancerous diseases and conditions in some medical institutions. This type of medicine technology helps physicians perform their responsibility of patients’ therapy easily; moreover, when a serious disease developed in the patient’s body, the x-rays of this medicine technology could scan the most sensitive part of the patient’s body.

Medicine has developed into an astonishing work of pure art over the years. From an old village healer crushing the simplest herbs in ancient times, to large machines administering chemical formulas to patients today. The newest addition to this artwork is Nuclear Medicine. Nuclear Medicine is a medicine that deals with the use of radioactive substances entering the body to attach/ attack cells. Whether it be to diagnose, test, or to treat, this nuclear technology has driven the medical and chemistry world into the future.

During the last decade, major progress has been made in the treatment of disease with radioisotopes. Treatments involving the use of medical isotopes are gaining momentum in the race against many types of cancer. FDA approved and highly promising therapies are doubling every 3 to 4 years. Some researchers predict that over 80% of cancer types should be treatable with

I have witnessed people struggle through hardships due to disease, or some other medical condition, whether they be a stranger on the street, or even in my own family, which has prompted me to aid those in need by becoming a physician. I chose this career to due to my passion for aiding those in need, and attentiveness while performing duties, which will prove vital in this career. Furthermore, I greatly enjoy both science and mathematics, specifically in the field of atomic physics. Understanding the radionuclides, and the effects of them will be extremely important in the career. My love of physics, medicine, and my attentiveness, along with my urge to aid those in need is what prompts me to become a professional in radioactive medicine. For these reasons, I have chosen to become a Nuclear Medicine

The radioactive isotopes are atoms with the same number of protons and electrons, but a different number of neutrons and atomic weight, and are described as have an unstable nucleus. The radioactive isotope produces gamma rays when it undergoes beta plus decay, also know as positron emission, occurring after the radioactive isotope undergoes change inside the nucleus. This change starts when an atom's proton is converted into a neutron inside the nucleus resulting in the loss of a positive charge, and a small amount of mass being lost. This mass is referred to as a positron. Then the positron after release collides with an electron and annihilation of the particles occur, producing two gamma rays. These gamma rays are the radioactive emissions that are then detected by the imaging machine. Isotopes with a short half life are selected for positron emission topography, and generally take around 18- 20 min to decay inside the body. Some of the common isotopes that are used in the radioactive drug tracers are chromium-51, technetium-99m, thallium-201, xenon-133, barium-313, strontium-87 (Denniston

The half-life of 99mTc after injection into the body is 6 hours. This allows researchers to put these nuclei to use. Nuclei of technetium 99 emit gamma rays with a characteristic energy of 140 keV (Leden, E. 1990). This property makes them highly desirable in medicine, as gamma rays are absorbed far from the examined organ, minimizing the danger posed to living matter. Production of 99mTc entails aggregation of human serum albumin using heat and a reducing agent to form the particles.

Radiopharmaceuticals are pharmaceutical compounds comprising of radioisotopes and organic carrier molecules, they’re derived to assist diagnostic and therapeutic procedures in the medical industry. The composition of radioactive pharmaceuticals is dependent on the intended physiological purpose concerning a specific organ. The radioisotope, within the radiopharmaceutical, emits gamma radiation through its decay (to obtain stability) whilst the carrier molecule, containing a ligand, conveys the direction to target individual cell receptors (Eshelman School of Pharmacy, 2013). Diagnostic (imaging) radiopharmaceuticals obtain metabolic and physiological information discerning the function of

Radioactive Decay is the spontaneous breakdown of an atom's nucleus, releasing energy and mass from the atom and often forms new elements. The process is called Transmutation, in which the energy process is continued until it creates and a new element is formed that has a stable nucleus and is not radioactive.

Nuclear medicine is the use of small amounts of radioactive materials to help locate and or treat a variety of different diseases. Those diseases include but are not limited to many types of cancers, heart disease, gastrointestinal, endocrine, neurological disorders and other abnormalities within the body (“General Nuclear Medicine”). Because of this revolutionary technology, Nuclear Med Techs are able to find cancer easier and reduce the area that the radiation affects to just the affected area of the body.

What I learned from our guest speaker Alan, which chose nuclear medicine as is modality, the first day you begin in nuclear medicine is by using gamma cameras (QC), to perform a radioactive trace. Before a procedure is perform on a patient, a procedure is done on the imaging unit called cobalt disk or technesium. This procedure would flush the camera source and tell you if your photomultipliers tubes are working properly for an exam. Radioisotopes are used in nuclear medicine by injecting an MVP known as phosphate into the body with the help of a syringe. In the case of a bone scan, this radioactive material called phosphate is introduced into the body and absorbed by the bones, preparing this procedure for a bone scan after three hours. Such

Radioactive decay is the spontaneous breakdown of an atomic nucleus resulting in the release of energy and matter from the nucleus. Remember that a radioisotope has unstable nuclei that does not have enough binding energy to hold the nucleus together. Radioisotopes would like to be stable isotopes so they are constantly changing to try and stabilize. In the process, they will release energy and matter from their nucleus and often transform into a new element. This process, called transmutation, is the change of one element into another as a result of changes within the nucleus. The radioactive decay and transmutation process will continue until a new element is formed that has a stable nucleus and is not radioactive. Transmutation can occur

Nuclear imaging (also known as nuclear medicine) is an imaging modality that involves injection, inhalation or injection of radioactive radiopharmaceuticals to visualize various organs and tissues. However, not only organs and tissues can be monitored, but also particular cells that are directly (for example with F-FDG tracer) or genetically (for example with HSV1-tk reporter gene) labeled . In order to use this nuclear imaging modality radiopharmaceuticals (also called tracers) are given internally (i.V. or orally). The Radiopharmaceuticals emitting penetrating gamma rays are used for imaging, where the radiation has to escape the body before being detected by special scans.

Β-particles are high energy electrons which are ejected from the nucleus with a range of energies up to a maximal value.12 β-emitters are heavily researched and are a widely accessible form of radionuclide therapy. The LET of β-emitting particles is high enough to kill cancerous cells, but is considered low compared to α-emitters which have a lot more particles in the higher energy levels. Β-particle emitters deposit their energy over a much larger range (1mm, dependent on energies) compared to that of α-particles and Auger electrons.17 One benefit to this is that less work is needed on carrier molecules, as the distribution of the β- emitter is not as critical for the radionuclide therapy to be successful. β-emitters are the widest used and researched radionuclides as they offer a large range of energies, tissue penetration, half-lives and production methods.18 This means, depending on the type and size of the tumour, the radionuclide can be varied. For example for a large tumour, a β-emitter would be more effective than an α-emitter, as although it has a lower LET, the whole tumour can be targeted rather than a small area. Nuclear reactors are the most common mode of producing β-emitting radionuclides, however charged particle accelerators can also be used. The wide range of radionuclides has in itself become a problem as it often becomes hard to select the most appropriate. Some of the primary β-emitting radionuclides that are

Around the world, nuclear medicine is used by doctors, physicians, chemists, engineers, and modern day hospitals in treating many diseases, and also in determining the causes of medical problems based on functioning organs, tissues, and or bones. Looking inside