Nuclear Medicine: A Boon to Society

Abstract

Abstract
Nuclear medicine is a rapidly developing branch of medicine which uses radioisotopes for diagnostic imaging and therapy. All nuclear medicine investigations and therapeutic procedures require highly specialized equipment. Nuclear imaging is a method of producing images by detecting radiation from different parts of the body after a radioactive tracer material is administered. The images are digitally generated on a computer and transferred to a nuclear medicine physician, who interprets the images to make a diagnosis. The amount of radiation a patient receives in a typical nuclear medicine scan tends to be very low. The main difference between nuclear medicine imaging and other radiological tests is nuclear medicine imaging evaluates how organs function, whereas other imaging methods evaluate the anatomy. The advantage of nuclear medicine is it helps physicians make a diagnosis and plan treatments for the part of the body being evaluated.

Keywords: Nuclear medicine, radioisotopes, chemical, scan, PET, organ, ultrasound

Cite this Article
Brijesh Singh. Nuclear Medicine: A Boon to Society. Journal of Nuclear Engineering & Technology. 2017; 7(2): 1–3p.