Medical applications nuclear medicine

The two principal applications of nuclear medicine are for radiation treatment of tumors and for visualizing organ functions and tumors. These nuclear-medical procedures supplement... 

Nowadays, nuclear medicine has become an indispensible section of medical science, and the production of radionuclides and labelled compounds for application in nuclear medicine is an important branch of nuclear and radiochemistry. The development of radionuclide generators made short-lived radionuclides available at any time for medical application. New imaging devices, such as single photon emission tomography (SPET) and positron emission tomography (PET) made it possible to study local biochemical reactions and their kinetics in the living human body. 

Other accelerator-produced radionuclides are also used in nuclear medicine (Table 19.2). One of the most important radionuclides in this group is This radioisotope of iodine has more favourable properties than it emits only y radiation and its relatively short half-life is more appropriate for medical application. Its production is described in section 12.1. Suitable accelerators for the generation of protons of relatively high energy, and transport facilities, are needed. 

Nuclear Waste Disposal Cancer Therapy Using Radiation Nuclear Medicine Making Isotopes for Medical Applications... 

Benjamin PP (1969) A rapid and efficient method of preparing c-human serum albiunin its clinical applications. Int J Appl Radiat Isot 20 187-194 Benjamin PP, Rejali A, Friedell H (1970) Electrolytic complexation of " Tc at constant ciurent its application in nuclear medicine. J Nucl Med 11 147-154 Clarke MJ, Podbielski L (1987) Medical diagnostic imaging with complexes of " Tc. Coord Chem Rev 78 253-331... 

A number of generator systems have been developed for medical application, but only few have found widespread acceptance. Table 5.1 gives some examples of generators used in nuclear medicine (Boyd et al. 1985). 

Ionizing radiation is used chiefly in medicine, in nuclear engineering and for special analytical procedures. The burden on man and the environment resulting from such applications (and from natural sources of radiation) is measured by radiometric methods. It is the medical applications (in particular radiological diagnosis) that constitute the chief man-made source of the radiation burden on the population. 

Yttrium, Y, is another radionuclide used in nuclear medicine its handling requires special attention because of (i) its short half-life (64 h) and (ii) its method of obtention. Indeed °Y is prepared from Sr therefore, the obtained compound is always contaminated by its parent species °Sr, an unacceptable side product for medical applications. The ligand (119) is very selective for the extraction of °Y over Sr + from aqueous solutions into chloroform by this method a highly pure (>99.9%) sample of °Y can be obtained <93ANC1350>. 

Radionuclides find applications in many fields. Their major use, however, is in medicine, in both diagnosis and therapy. The production of radionuclides is carried out using nuclear reactors as well as cyclotrons. The reactor produced radionuclides are generally neutron excess nuclides. They mostly decay by P emission. The cyclotron produced radionuclides, on the other hand, are often neutron deficient and decay mainly by EC or emission. They are especially suitable for diagnostic studies. The reactor production of radionuclides is described in Chap. 38 of this Volume this chapter treats radionuclide production with cyclotrons. It is worth pointing out that today more than 300 cyclotrons exist worldwide (cf. Directory of Cyclotrons, lAEA-DCRP/CD, 2004), many of them in hospitals they produce short-lived radionuclides for medical use. Thus, radionuclide production science and technology at cyclotrons has become a very important feature of modern nuclear medicine. 

Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) (Stang et al. 1954, 1957). The technetium daughter radionuclide was soon envisioned for medical use (1960), and indeed its first clinical application was reported in 1961 (Richards 1960 Harper et al. 1962) and has revolutionized radiopharmaceutical chemistry and nuclear medicine. Since that time, various other generator systems have been developed, and some of them received significant practical application. 

Several other generator systems have been developed providing photon-emitting daughter nuclides, but did not receive adequate medical attention. Others were proposed for basic radiochemical and radiopharmaceutical studies rather than for a direct application of the daughter nuclide in nuclear medicine. 

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