Nuclear Medicine: Nuclear Imaging

Nuclear medicine is a certain branch of medicine that uses a specific type of radiation to give out important information about how a person's specific organs work. As well as, showing the organ and treating a disease that is inside of it. When information gets viewed by special physicians, they make sure to get a quick, accurate diagnosis of what the patient's illness is right away. The main organs that can be easily imaged by the nuclear medicine is the thyroid, bones, heart, liver, lungs, and the gallbladder. There are many hospitals that use the radiation; called radioisotope, in medicines. The most common one is named Technetium-99, which is used in medical diagnostic procedures annually. Nuclear medicine was created in the 1950s by physicians

“Nuclear medicine is a highly specialized field of radiology. It requires the oral or intravenous administration of radiopharmaceuticals, radioactive isotopes combined with organ specific medications, in order to perform

Medical imaging is used to create visual images of the interior part of the body so that it would be easier to examine, diagnose & treat patients without the need of surgical processes. This process is used to see what is beneath the skins and bones to find any abnormalities present.

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.

Nuclear Medicine is the use of radioisotopes for diagnosis, treatment, and research. Radioactive chemical tracers emit gamma rays which provides diagnostic information about a person's anatomy and the functioning of specific organs. Radioisotopes are also utilizes in treatments of diseases such as cancer. It is estimated that approximately one in two people in Western countries are likely to experience the benefits of nuclear medicine in their lifetime.

The nuclear medicine technologist use radionuclides to diagnose and treat diseases. Radionuclides means unstable atoms that release radiation spontaneously and they are purified and compounded to form radiopharmaceuticals that prepare and administer by nuclear medicine technologist. These technologists are particularly specialized health care professional. The radioactive drugs appear higher or lower concentration in the abnormal area of the patient’s body than in the normal area.

Issue: In medicine, radioisotopes are bonded with chemical compounds to form radioactive tracers, which are then injected into the patient’s bloodstream. The radiation emitted by the tracers allows doctors to obtain images of organ systems, facilitating the early and accurate diagnosis of disease. However, to avoid radio- active contamination, care must be taken in the storage, use, and disposal of this material.

Technetium-99m is a widely used radioactive tracer isotope in Nuclear Medicine. Its gamma ray energy of about 140 keV is convenient for detection. The fact that both its physical half-life and its biological half-life are very short leads to very fast clearing from the body after an imaging process. A further advantage is that the gamma is a single energy, not accompanied by beta emission, and that permits more precise alignment of imaging detectors.

Therapeutic nuclear medicine has come a long way over the last decade. More than 20 million Americans now benefit each year from nuclear medicine procedures used to diagnose and treat a wide variety of diseases (SNMMI and Safe/Beneficial Medical Uses of Radiation, 2017).

Who would have thought we would be using nuclear substances for medical purposes? Well, we are many different ways. I am going to discuss a test called the Indium Scan; this test requires the use of nuclear substances being injected into the blood stream via an IV. The amount of Indium that is giving is based on the patient and what the doctor feels as appropriate.

The most commonly used radio tracer for thyroid imaging are TC99m(pertechnetate) , iodine-123 and iodine-131. Thyroid evaluation is one of the most frequently performed nuclear medicine procedure.The equipment use to test for the radioactivity is the gamma probe and is the only device used to test for graves disease. (*3)This device is a handheld device with a Geiger-muller tube, or or scintillation counter, for intraoperative use following interstitial injection of a radionuclide, to locate regional lymph nodes by their radioactivity It is used primarily for sentinel lymph node mapping and parathyroid surgery. The Gamma Probe is also used for RSL (Radioactive Seed Localization), to locate small and non-palpable breast lesions. The sentinel node market experienced high growth in the early and mid 90's starting with melanoma sentinel node surgical search and breast cancer sentinel node staging; both are currently considered standards of care. Most surgeons propose node staging after a positive breast biopsy. New applications are being developed for parathyroid direct detection and intra-operative detection of cancerous tissue using tumor-seeking radiopharmaceuticals. Parathyroid detection is growing fast, while the intraoperative use of gamma probes for direct tumor detection is just emerging. Canberra is one of the manufactures of a gamma probe also know as a GP series- Geiger muller detractors A gamma probe is A pair of rugged halogen-quenched GM detectors serves as the basic detection elements in the GP Series detectors used for wide range gamma radiation measurement. The way this device works is the signal from the gamma probe with Geiger-muller tube and the voltage power supply go to the preamplifier to another amplifier and threshold control. This signal is split one side goes to the rate meter and audio circuit, the other signal goes to the scaler and display driver circuitry which is

Diagnostic imaging such as MRI, PET/CT scans and X-Rays all allow doctors to “see” inside your body. This type of imaging takes photographs of your bones and organs, allowing them to much more easily narrow down the cause of a disease or injury. As great and helpful as this may sound, it is not always such an easy thing for a patient to endure. It is not that the procedure is harmful or even painful, but many times claustrophobia, fear of test results, and the anxiety of going through a procedure that they are not familiar with can cause a patient to become very fearful and stressed. It is very important that the technician communicate with the patient and help them to remain calm and at ease. How can we improve communication between the patient and the technologist? Is it possible to reduce anxiety in someone who suffers from claustrophobia during imaging?

Nuclear medicine is a branch of medical science, which uses small amounts of radioactive materials in order to diagnose and treat diseases. These diseases include cancers, heart diseases, and other irregularities in the body. The nuclear medicine is injected into the blood stream in order to identify potential diseases. There are over forty million nuclear medicine procedures preformed each year through radiation, or the energy in form of waves or high speed particles. The use of nuclear medicine allows the treatment of diseases without surgery. This form of treatment causes only minimal damage to the tissues surrounding cancerous cells.

The use of radioactive elements in medicine is still growing to this day. Many oncologists use it to treat their patients who have cancer. Many cancer patients use this option. They use the radiation to kill off cancer cells. X-ray technicians or radiologists will also use it to administer x-rays to people who may have a broken bone, or need an MRI. The patient is injected with a radioactive material that helps the doctor be able to see inside the body better, whether it be with pictures or ultrasound. Radioactive material is defined as “material that contains radioactivity and thus emits ionizing radiation. It may be material that contains natural radioactivity from the environment or a material that may have been made radioactive.” (The Healthy Physics Society). This happens when someone needs a colonoscopy. They have to drink or are injected with this liquid that helps their organs and all other masses in the body be seen better by the radioactive materials.