Nuclear Medicine And Radiation

One of the recent branches of medical science is the nuclear medicine. Besides various elements, nuclear medicine uses radiation for generating diagnostic information relating to the functioning of specific organs. Such radiation is also utilized for treatment of ailing organs. Such diagnostic processes have now become a routine affair in medical science.

Use of Radioisotopes and Radiotherapy

Radioisotopes for radiotherapy are severally used in the treatment of

• Cancer of any type.
• Tumors and other external and internal disfigurations in human anatomy.
• It targets the damaged, effected, or ailing cells and destroys them.
• Since use is painless the demands are growing rapidly.

Use of Radioisotopes in Nuclear Medicine

In nuclear medicine, the radioisotopes are used for detecting the specific functions of the organs or for treating the diseases. The reasons for its widespread use are

• Diagnosis is quick and accurate about the illness of the patient.
• Organs like thyroid, bones, heart, and liver can get damaged pretty easily, and disorders in their functioning can be detected using radiations.
• As many as five Nobel laureates were associated with development of radioisotopes based detecting methods in medical science.
• More than ten thousand hospitals across the globe use radioisotopes in medicine.
• 90% of these uses are for diagnostic purposes.

Commonly radioisotope utilized in diagnosis is the technetium-99 that is practiced in over thirty million procedures a year accounting for over 80% of all medicine procedures in the world.

After most of all the nuclear-applied medicine procedures, it is usually great to drink a good amount of fluids and urinate as numerous as you can. This helps one to flush all the remaining radioactivity out of one's body. The length of period you need to do it will depend on the radiopharmaceutical that was used. Again, it is best to inquire your doctor.

Frequencies of Radioisotopes Use

26% of the world population resides in developed countries. The frequency of use of nuclear medicines and therefore radioisotopes in these countries come to 1.9% per annum. Over 18 million frequencies are used in the United States alone for around 305 million people. Such frequencies in Europe come to about ten million for 500 million people. Use of radioisotopes comes to around 560,000 in Australia for 21 million people.

Specific Use of Radioisotopes in Medical Procedures

36% of the total radiation exposure is used for the computed X-ray tomography or CT scan as they are popularly known. According to the US National Council on the Radiation Protection and Measurements Report of the year 2009, the exposure to radiation in has increased from 3.6 millisieverts to that of 6.2 millisieverts during 1980-2010.

Nuclear Cardiology has gained great popularity world wide. Nuclear Medicine for the therapeutic objectives is currently being used for medication of cancers, various medical conditions affecting the thyroid gland, and scar - tissue removal.