What is Nuclear Medicine?

Nuclear Medicine is a medical specialty that uses safe, painless, and cost-effective techniques both to image the body and treat diseases. Nuclear Medicine uses very small amounts of radioactive materials, or radiopharmaceuticals, to diagnose and treat diseases. Radiopharmaceuticals are made up of two principal compounds: The radionuclide and the pharmaceutical agent. The radionuclide is the means of :
 

-         Detection for diagnostic applications mainly through the scintigraphy imaging and

-         Organ or tissue destruction for therapy applications.

The pharmaceutical preparation dictates the in vivo biodistribution and localization. Technetnium-99m is the radionuclide of choice for most of nuclear medicine procedures. Radio-iodine, Thallium-201 and Gallium-67 are also a commonly radionuclides used in Nuclear Medicine.

Nuclear Medicine Scintigraphy

In Nuclear Medicine, the patient is given a radioactive tracer agent either by mouth (capsule, drink or inhalation), injected intravenously or instilled. The tracer goes to the target organ and can then be imaged with a Gamma Camera (SPECT or PET) which takes pictures of the radiation emitted by the radioactive tracer. These images are known as Scintigraphy. As a general statement, there are no allergic reactions to radioactive tracer agents.
Nuclear Medicine imaging is unique in that it documents organ function and structure, in contrast to diagnostic radiology that is based upon anatomy. Quantitative information related to organ functions such as Renal Function, Heart Ejection Fraction and Brain Blood Flow can be obtained through scintigraphy procedures.
Although Nuclear Medicine practice is commonly used for diagnostic purposes, it also provides valuable therapeutic applications such as treatment of hyperthyroidism, thyroid cancer, blood imbalances and pain relief from certain types of bone cancers.
 

Radiation Safety

Nuclear medicine procedures are among the safest diagnostic imaging exams available. A patient only receives an extremely small amount of radioactive tracer, just enough to provide sufficient diagnostic information. In fact, the amount of radiation from a nuclear medicine procedure is comparable to, or often times less than, that of a diagnostic x-ray. Nuclear medicine procedures are painless and do not require anesthesia.
Although we don't think much about it, everyone is continually exposed to radiation from natural and man-made sources. For most people, natural background radiation from space, rocks, soil, and even carbon and potassium atoms in his or her own body, accounts for 85 percent of their annual exposure. Additional exposure is received from consumer products such as household smoke detectors, color television sets, and luminous dial clocks. The remainder is from x-rays and radioactive materials used for medical diagnosis and therapy.
With most nuclear medicine procedures, the patient receives about the same amount of radiation as that acquired in a few months of normal living.
 

Quick Facts

-         Nuclear medicine uniquely provides information about both the function and structure of virtually every major organ system within the body. Nuclear medicine is an integral part of patient care and saves countless lives annually.
 

-         Nuclear medicine imaging procedures often identify abnormalities very early in the progression of a disease - long before some medical problems are apparent with other diagnostic tests. This early detection allows a disease to be treated early in its course when there may be a more successful prognosis.
 

-         The amount of radiation a patient receives by a nuclear medical injection is equal to the amount of radiation a person receives when traveling by plane, living on high altitude or a week skiing.
 

-         Nuclear Medicine combines physics, chemistry, mathematics, computer technology and medicine in using radioactivity for medical applications. Staff team of a Nuclear Medicine department includes : Physicians, Nurses, Technologists and Clinical Scientists (Medical Physicists, Radiopharmacists and Computer scientists).