Introduction to Nuclear Medicine Questions and Answers

Introduction to Nuclear Medicine Questions and Answers What is nuclear medicine? Branch of radiology that uses radioactive materials for diagnosis, therapy & medical research. Provides doctors w/ information on both structure & function. Isotope Element w/ same # of protons, but different # of neutrons. Previous Play Next Rewind 10 seconds Move forward 10 seconds Unmute 0:00 / 0:15 Full screen Brainpower Read More How are radioactive materials detected? By gamma cameras. What are radioactive materials used for? To diagnose and treat a variety of diseases & disorders. The amount of radiation is comparable to? A diagnostic x-ray & the amount is kept w/in safe limits. Radiopharmaceuticals A radiation drug. Radioactive drug for diagnosis or therapy. Radionuclide Unstable atoms that emit radiation spontaneously. Radiopharmacy Facility for preparation,dispensing & storage of radioactive drugs. Tracers Used as tags or markers & followed as they travel through the body. Tc99m Half-Life 6h Energy 140KeV I123 HL 13.2 h E 159 I131 HL 8d E 364 Tl201 HL 73.1h E 69,83,167 Ga67 HL 78.3h E 93,185,388 Mo99 HL 66.6h E 740 In111 HL 2.8d E 245 Cs137 HL 30y E 662 Co57 HL 270d E 122 Xe133 HL 5.3d E 81 Which radiopharmaceuticals are used for therapy? Ones with higher energy Half-Life Time required for a radioisotope to lose half of its radioactivity What do technologists do? 1. Explain test procedure to pts 2. Prepare dose & administer it 3. Position pts & start camera What emits radiation in xray imaging? The machine What emits radiation in nuclear medicine? The radioisotope administered Summary of how nuclear medicine works 1.Administer pharmaceuticals by injection (most common), inhillation or mouth 2.Radiopharmaceutical will travel to target organ 3.Occurs w/in minutes, hours or days depending on drug & procedure 4.Gamma camera used to detect distribution of tracer 5.Images are recorded and read by physician