Nuclear Medicine
Nuclear Medicine
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 the 1980’s and today there are over 100 different nuclear imaging procedures used to interpret information on every organ system in the body.
Nuclear medicine is a special branch of medicine or medical imagery. It uses radioactive isotopes that rely on the process of unstable atomic nucleic emission of ionizing particles and radiation to diagnose and treat disease. Radiation looks at both the function and the anatomy of the body to establish a diagnosis and treatment. The tests use small amounts of radioactive material to assist with diagnosis. Radiopharmaceuticals or radiotracers are the radioactive materials used in the image scan. Depending on the exam preformed, the radiotracer is either injected into the veins, swallowed, or inhaled as a gas in order to accumulate in the organ or specific area of the body being examined which will produce gamma rays. Gamma rays are a high frequency form of electromagnetic radiation. The rays are detected by special machines called positron emission tomography (PET) scanners, probes, or gamma cameras. These machines are hooked up to a computer and they work together to see the amount of radiotracer absorbed by the body or specific organ to produce an image. The image is very descriptive and
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 the 1980’s and today there are over 100 different nuclear imaging procedures used to interpret information on every organ system in the body.
Nuclear medicine is a special branch of medicine or medical imagery. It uses radioactive isotopes that rely on the process of unstable atomic nucleic emission of ionizing particles and radiation to diagnose and treat disease. Radiation looks at both the function and the anatomy of the body to establish a diagnosis and treatment. The tests use small amounts of radioactive material to assist with diagnosis. Radiopharmaceuticals or radiotracers are the radioactive materials used in the image scan. Depending on the exam preformed, the radiotracer is either injected into the veins, swallowed, or inhaled as a gas in order to accumulate in the organ or specific area of the body being examined which will produce gamma rays. Gamma rays are a high frequency form of electromagnetic radiation. The rays are detected by special machines called positron emission tomography (PET) scanners, probes, or gamma cameras. These machines are hooked up to a computer and they work together to see the amount of radiotracer absorbed by the body or specific organ to produce an image. The image is very descriptive and
Bibliography: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_medicine http://health.howstuffworks.com/nuclear-medicine.htm http://www.petnm.unimelb.edu.au/nucmed/detail/risks.html http://www.radiologyinfo.org/en/info.cfm?pg=gennuclear http://ajph.aphapublications.org/cgi/reprint/62/12/1568.pdf https://www.beaumonthospitals.com/radiation-risks-for-nuclear-medicine-exams http://www.snm.org/ http://www.molecularimagingcenter.org/index.cfm?PageID=7083 http://www.webmd.com/oral-health/dental-x-rays