What is Nuclear Medicine?
Nuclear medicine is a medical specialty which uses safe, painless, and cost-effective
techniques both to image the body and treat disease. Nuclear medicine imaging is unique in
that it documents organ function and structure, in contrast to diagnostic radiology which
is based upon anatomy. It is a way to gather medical information that may otherwise be
unavailable, require surgery, or necessitate more expensive diagnostic tests.
As an integral part of patient care, nuclear medicine is used in the diagnosis,
management, treatment and prevention of serious disease. 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.
Nuclear medicine uses very small amounts of radioactive materials, or
radiopharmaceuticals, to diagnose and treat disease. Radiopharmaceuticals are substances
that are attracted to specific organs, bones, or tissues. When radiopharmaceuticals are
introduced into the body, they produce emissions. A special type of camera, a gamma or PET
camera, is used to transform these emissions into images and data which provide
information about the area of the body being imaged.
Although Nuclear Medicine 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.
The History of Nuclear Medicine
Nuclear medicine has a complex and multifaceted heritage. Its origins stem from many
scientific discoveries, most notably the discovery of x-rays in 1895 and the discovery of
"artificial radioactivity" in 1934. The first clinical use of "artificial
radioactivity" was carried out in 1937 for the treatment of a patient with leukemia
at the University of California at Berkeley. A landmark event for nuclear medicine
occurred in 1946 when a thyroid cancer patient's treatment with radioactive iodine caused
complete disappearance of the spread of the patient's cancer. This has been considered by
some as the true beginning of nuclear medicine. Wide-spread clinical use of nuclear
medicine, however, did not start until the early 1950s. The value of radioactive iodine
became apparent as its use increased to measure the function of the thyroid and to
diagnose thyroid disease. Simultaneously, more and more physicians began to use
"nuclear medicine" for the treatment of patients with hyperthyroidism. The
concept of nuclear medicine was a dramatic breakthrough for diagnostic medicine.
Moreover, the ability to treat a disease with radiopharmaceuticals and to record and
make a "picture" of the form and structure of an organ was invaluable. In the
mid-sixties and the years that followed, the growth of nuclear medicine as a specialty
discipline was phenomenal. The advances in nuclear medicine technology and instrument
manufacturers were critical to this development. The 1970s brought the visualization of
most other organs of the body with nuclear medicine, including liver and spleen scanning,
brain tumor localization, and studies of the gastrointestinal track. The 1980s provided
the use of radiopharmaceuticals for such critical diagnoses as heart disease and the
development of cutting-edge nuclear medicine cameras and computers. Today, there are
nearly 100 different nuclear medicine imaging procedures which uniquely provide
information about virtually every major organ system within the body. Nuclear medicine is
an integral part of patient care, and an important diagnostic and therapeutic specialty in
the armamentarium of medical science.
. . . And Safety
Nuclear medicine procedures are among the safest diagnostic imaging exams available. A
patient only receives an extremely small amount of radiopharmaceutical, 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.
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 recieves about the same
amount of radiation as that acquired in a few months of normal living.
Because of his or her special training, the nuclear medicine physician is able to
select the most appropriate examination for the patient's particular medical problem, and
thereby avoid any unnecessary radiation exposure.
Come back soon to see a Nuclear Pharmacy in action!
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