The Birth Of Nuclear Medicine

Cancer is defined as the abnormal, uncontrolled division of cells in the body. This uncontrollable growth causes a growth or tumour on the body. The tumours that are formed can either be benign or malignant. Malignant tumours can attack other cells and destroy them. Cancer has been around for ages and millions of people have died from cancer. There are many types of cancer and there are different reasons why people get cancer. Luckily, there are many treatments in place to help people who have cancer. Some popular options for treating cancer would be surgically removing the tumour or growth, or undergoing radiation therapy or chemotherapy. These treatments are commonly used amongst patients who have cancer. Alternatively there is another treatment that could be used to cure cancer, Proton Therapy. Proton Therapy works by directing a strong dose of radiation to the cancerous tumour (Advanced Particle Therapy, n.d.). In this essay, the advantages and disadvantages of Proton Therapy will be discussed in

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

People also benefit from atomic research in the medical field. Many people are aware of the wide use of radiation and radioisotopes in medicine. Nuclear medicine mostly uses radioisotopes which emit gamma rays from within the body. Estimates show that about one out of every three hospital patients benefits in some way from the use of nuclear medicine. Just think, every time you have an X-ray taken you are benefiting from nuclear research. Without X-rays, doctors would have a far greater time trying to set a broken bone if they even knew it was broken! Another common medical procedure that involves atomic research is the Cat-Scan. During this procedure the patient is injected with a radioactive isotope which shows the flow of blood through the

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.

Cancer is a genetic, heritable disease in which abnormal cells divide rapidly destroying normal body cells, often being fatal. Cancer can occur in any body tissue; skin, organs, and parts of the reproductive system (Duda). There are various activities linked to different types of cancer, such as smoking, too much sun exposure, gene mutations, carcinogens, and viruses. A major cause of cancer, dating all the way back to the 1950’s, is radiation. Atomic testing ordered by the U.S. Government has been suspected to be the cause of many deaths linked to radiation-related diseases (Williams 149).

Marie and Pierre Curie both researched into radium’s properties and the results implied that radium could possibly be a cure to some diseases. From this, a new form of therapy developed: radium therapy or “Curie Therapy,” as it was referred to in France (Koestler-Grack “Cures Cancer”). The healing properties of radium are serviceable to the curing of diseases. Many suffered from incurable diseases, such as types of Leukemia and Carcinoma, but radium treatment gave them hope for a cure. Now, many diseases that were burdensome to treat in the past are of little to no consequence due to the innovation of treatment from radium

Although radioactivity has been around since the late 1800’s, it was not until 1923 when the foundation of nuclear medicine began to take form. Around that time, Hungarian radiochemist George de Hevesy discovered that it was possible to track molecules as they undergo chemical processes within the human body. This is known as the “tracer” principle. [source: http://www.auntminnie.com/index.aspx?sec=ser&sub=def&pag=dis&ItemID=71210]

For the plutonium, polonium and uranium experiments the researchers wanted to protect the people working on nuclear weapons. They used sick patients to experiment on, and they collected data from those experiments to develop a safer and healthier environment for the workers. The total-body irradiation (TBI) experiments the government was gathering information to use and develop nuclear weapons. The radioisotope experiments involved plutonium injections, and the biomedical research that was conducted was to further the medicine advancements (“OSTI,” 1995).

The area the area where a person gets radiation consists of all the tumor and a small area of regular tissue around it. The small area of regular tissue around the tumor is included because breathing and the moving of organ can affect the position of the tumor and to reduce the chance of getting cancer by killing the bad cells that have spread to regular ones.The use of radiation therapy began shortly after the discovery of radium and x-rays.In 1903, doctors reported the success of radium treating cancer.Doctors used the brachytherapy method, which is putting the radioactive material inside the body near the tumor.This method is still in use and has been improved to be more efficient.From the first use of radiation therapy to the 1950’s, doctors start to discover the side effects of over exposure.In 1965, radiation was use to treat liver cancer, which was previously incurable.In the 1980’s radiation becomes standard use and is used with chemotherapy for tumors that cannot be removed surgicaly.In the early 90’s, powerful computers allow the use of 3D imaging to help target tumors better and make better treatment plans.In the late 1990’s, a new method of radiation therapy is used to help protect important organs from radiation.In 1999, numerous methods for curing cancer are discovered.The future of

How has nuclear medicine innovated science and society? Within the last century, science faced several discoveries that caused the scientific community and society to change one another. When evaluating the scientific discoveries during the twentieth century, the decisive advancements took place in the study of nuclear physics. Affecting both science and society inquires formed around medical uses for nuclear materials. Advanced research in nuclear science with radioisotopes allowed doctors to treat tumors efficiently to transform healthcare in society. The conclusion of the Second World War plunged the world into the Atomic Era. The birth of the Atomic Era caused science and society to question the medical use of nuclear physics.

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

Do you ever wonder how radiation was discovered? Or when it was discovered? It all started in 1895, when Wilhelm Roentgen discovered x-rays. Six years later, he was honored with the first Nobel Prize in Physics; by then, doctors were already using primitive x-rays to diagnose illnesses(Men’s Health watch 1). The collaboration between physicians and physicists has continued ever since, resulting in amazing advances far beyond Roentgen’s wildest dreams. Physicists tell us that ionizing radiation delivers energy in the form of photons that pack enough oomph to strip electrons away from the nuclei of atoms(1). We are continuously exposed to tiny amounts of ionizing radiation from cosmic rays and naturally occurring radioactive elements here on earth. We accept this so-called background radiation without blinking an eye, but we

Radioactivity is defined as “the spontaneous emission of particles”. (Nuclear Energy). Radioactivity is caused by an unbalanced nucleus in the cell. This happens because there is either an uneven number of protons and/or neutrons. When this happens, the element is considered to have multiple isotopes. An isotope is an atom with the same number of protons but a different number of neutrons. Thus, they have different atomic weights. This is important to know because there is a such thing as a radioactive isotope. These elements just have additional energy, and they release radiation in different forms. “There are over 800 radioactive isotopes, some of which are natural and some synthetic.” (Helmenstine). Radioactive elements can be both artificial and natural. However, in medicine, most of them are more than likely synthetic, since they are the most popular types.

This paper will run through the potential and numerous clinical uses of terbium in nuclear medicine. Terbium is a rare metal and is still under clinical trials in Europe and is the only element in the periodic table with four clinically relevant radioisotopes with remarkable nuclear decay characteristics and could possibly be used in a vast array of nuclear medicine procedures, including diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. The four forms of terbium under clinical trials are 149Tb, 152Tb, 155Tb, and 161Tb. 149Tb is being clinically tested as an alpha particle emitting radionuclide for alpha-immunotherapy. Due to it’s relatively short half-life of 4.1 hours and low energy emittance of alpha particles, make it principally well suited for application in unification with small-molecular-weight targeting agents, including peptides, which are quickly vacated from the body. 152Tb with a half like of 17.5 hours emits positrons perfect for postitron emission tomography imaging. 155Tb emits gamma rays and has a half life of 5.32 days with relatively low energies of 86.55 and 105.3 keV respectively, it is being tested for diagnostic purposes for positron emission tomography and single-photon emission computed tomography cameras. 161Tb produces beta minus particles and is being tested for therapeutic purposes while showing great promise with tumor visualization and remission. The