Nuclear medicine has been around for more than 50 years now and stems from the discovery of x-rays and artificial radioactivity. In 1946, nuclear medicine made a monumental breakthrough when radioactive iodine led to the complete disappearance of cancer in a patient’s thyroid. Nuclear medicine became widely used in the 1950’s to measure the function of the thyroid, to diagnose thyroid disease, and for the treatment of patients with hyperthyroidism.
By the 1970’s nuclear medicine was used to visualize other organs of the body other than the thyroid such as scanning of the liver and spleen, localizing brain tumors, and images of the gastrointestinal track. The use of digital computers and detection of heart disease arose in the 1980’s and today there are over 100 different nuclear imaging procedures used to interpret information on every organ system in the body. Nuclear medicine is a special branch of medicine or medical imagery. It uses radioactive isotopes that rely on the process of unstable atomic nucleic emission of ionizing particles and radiation to diagnose and treat disease.
Radiation looks at both the function and the anatomy of the body to establish a diagnosis and treatment. The tests use small amounts of radioactive material to assist with diagnosis. Radiopharmaceuticals or radiotracers are the radioactive materials used in the image scan. Depending on the exam preformed, the radiotracer is either injected into the veins, swallowed, or inhaled as a gas in order to accumulate in the organ or specific area of the body being examined which will produce gamma rays. Gamma rays are a high frequency form of electromagnetic radiation.
The rays are detected by special machines called positron emission tomography (PET) scanners, probes, or gamma cameras. These machines are hooked up to a computer and they work together to see the amount of radiotracer absorbed by the body or specific organ to produce an image. The image is very descriptive and assists to examine the function and/or anatomy of the specific area of concern. There is also therapeutic radiation which produces penetrating waves or particles to kill cancer cells, stop them from reproducing, shrink tumors, or used in a combination with chemotherapy.
Nuclear medicine is a pain free and a non-invasive way to treat and diagnose patients. It helps identify the first signs of abnormalities before problems are apparent with other diagnostic tests. Unlike with CT and MRI scans that only give structural information, nuclear medicine tests provide information about the functional status and viability of different organs and tissues. The procedure is usually quick and accurate allowing ample amount of time for treatment to produce the best outcome of recovery and covers a wide variety of conditions and diseases.
The tests only expose a minimal amount of radiation to patients which makes them safe. Nuclear therapy is a painless, efficient, safe, and relatively inexpensive way to control or eliminate cancers, overactive thyroid, and even arthritis. The radiotracers used in the tests are safe as well as the amount of radiation each patient is exposed to. Radiotracers rapidly lose their radioactivity and are quickly emitted from the body by its normal functions. There are basically no side effects of nuclear medicine except for the common case of nausea experience with radiotherapy.
This type of medicine can provide patients with a long and healthy life. There is a very minimal list of risks involved with nuclear medicine. Radiation risk varies according to the age, sex, size, body structure, and make up of the patient as well as the dose of radioactive tracer used to complete the exam. The greatest risk associated with nuclear medicine is the development of cancer. There has not been an exact match that radiation causes or has ever been tied to cancer. Nuclear medicine represents a small but increasing amount of radiation exposure for the patient.
When comparing the risks of radiation and the risks of surgery that would be the result of diagnosis if radiation or radiotracers were not available, the risk of surgery is greatly higher. This table shows the common risks that people face in everyday life compared to that individual dying from taking that risk. These figures were taken from “Living with Risk”, published by the British Medical Association, 1987. ACTIVITYRISK OF AN INDIVIDUAL DYING IN ANY ONE YEAR Smoking 10 cigarettes a day1 in 200 Influenza1 in 500 Natural causes, 40 years old1 in 850 Road Accident1 in 8,000.
Playing Soccer1 in 25,000 Accident at Home1 in 26,000 Accident at Work1 in 43,500 Hit by Lightning1 in 10,000,000 Release of radiation from a nearby Power Station1 in 10,000,000 Radiation Exposure at the rate of: * Theoretical worst case figures * 5 mSv per year1 in 16,000 50 mSv per year1 in 1,600 OCCUPATION Deep Sea Fishing (sea accidents before 1970)1 in 360 Offshore Oil and Gas Industry1 in 600 Quarrying1 in 3,000 Coal Mining1 in 5,000 Railways1 in 6,000 Construction Industry1 in 7,000 Agriculture1 in 9,000 Chemical and Allied Industries1 in 12,000 Motor Vehicle manufacture1 in 70,000.
Clothing and Footwear manufacture1 in 200,000 Timber and Furniture manufacture1 in 250,000 (http://www. petnm. unimelb. edu. au/nucmed/detail/risks. html) “A millisievert (mSV) is a unit of measure that allows for some comparison between radiation sources that expose the entire body (such as natural background radiation) and those that only expose a portion of the body (such as radiographs). ” (http://www. ada. org/public/topics/xrays_faq. asp) Many people are unaware of the amount of radiation that they encounter on a daily basis from normal activity and normal health tests.
This table explains the amount of radiation emitted from those activities and tests. Typical Radiation Doses (From Various Sources)* Watching television20. 01 mSv/year Air travel (roundtrip from Washington, D. C. , to Los Angeles, Calif. ) 30. 05 mSv Medical chest X-ray (one film) 40. 1 mSv Nuclear medicine thyroid scan20. 14 mSv Full set of dental X-rays30. 4 mSv/year Mammogram (four views) 10. 7 mSv Average annual exposure living in the United States63 mSv/year Average annual exposure from breathing radon gas52 mSv Nuclear medicine lung scan12 mSv Nuclear medicine bone scan14. 2 mSv.
Nuclear cardiac diagnostic test (technetium or Tc-99m) 410 mSv Abdominal CT scan110 mSv Various PET studies (18F FDG)114 mSv Tobacco products (amount for a smoker’s lungs from 20 cigarettes a day)553 mSv/year Cancer treatment (tumor receives)550,000 mSv (http://www. molecularimagingcenter. org/index. cfm? PageID=7083) However small the radiation dose is there is still a potential risk involved. By comparing the risk of everyday activities and the risk of a small dose of radiation, the nuclear medicine is the safest and most effective way to treat and diagnose diseases all over the body.
The extensive uses of nuclear medicine span a variety of different exams for the whole body. The scan can be localized for a specific area in the body or can record the body as it stands as a whole. The differences between the tests are that nuclear medicine scans detect the radiation coming off of the radiotracer in the patient’s body. CT scans (CAT stands for “computed axial tomography,” and CT stands for “computed tomography”) and x-rays obtain information by using machines that send radiation through the body. MRI scans (Magnetic resonance imaging) use magnetism, radio waves, and computers to produce images of the body.
MRI scans are used to detect disease in the head, brain, spinal cord, the glands and organs of the abdomen, and any other structural abnormalities of the body. Nuclear medicine is different from other imaging tests because it detects the presence of disease based on biological changes in tissue. It can be used to determine if organs are functioning properly or not, to show if enough blood is being supplied to the heart and to see if the heart is pumping blood normally, detect the early stages of cancer and identify the degree of cancer, produce images of brain lesions and tumors and determine if the brain cells are functioning properly as well as if there is enough blood supply being delivered to the brain.
It can show bone fractures before they can be visible on normal x-rays as well as check if the kidneys, stomach, lungs, and all other organs and systems are functioning accurately and receiving the appropriate entities needed to carry out proper function.
Through my research, I have found over 500 case studies and articles on how nuclear medicine has produced answers for patients ranging from age of infancy all the way to senior citizens. The tests available cover an endless list of information that can provide specialists with diagnoses and treatment of anything from a sports injury that an x-ray would not pick up to little holes in blood veins called aneurisms. More than 20 million Americans benefit each year from nuclear medicine procedures that would otherwise be unavailable if the amount of radiation exposure were unsafe.
This miracle procedure is providing patients with answers about their conditions without the need of surgery or some other kind of exam that would cause more harm to their body than the small amount of radiation they are exposed to through nuclear medicine. Thus, nuclear medicine is the most efficient, safe, painless, and inexpensive way to diagnose and treat almost any major health concern. It ranges from detection of a disease or problem to therapy, which can be a means of treatment, and to produce information on a disease that can be treated by other means due to early detection.
I would recommend the use of these special exams to anyone with an ongoing health problem. The results of the tests are the most accurate results possible because the function, anatomy, and biological structure are all available from the same test without the use of surgery or another more costly diagnostic exam. Therefore, any problem at any specific location of the body can be viewed and diagnosed by a pain free exam that is virtually the quickest and most cost efficient means possible.
While researching, I did not know that nuclear medicine was so interesting until I started putting my paper together. I actually became engrossed in my topic and wanted to write a paper that justified it the way I saw it. The advancements in technology are phenomenal and I am excited to see what is coming up next for nuclear medicine. There were many things that I learned about radiology that I did not know previous to this paper. I thought radiology was used only for cancer patients as a treatment. I came to find out that radiology covers everything.
It is the perfect exam to perform instead of exploratory surgery since the area can be localized on a computer screen and analyzed from there. No opening up a person, looking around for something that could be in there, wasting time, and not solving the problem. All the hassle is eliminated. In my profession, we use dental x-rays on a daily basis. The x-rays help the dentist diagnose problems with the root structure, bone disease, infection, decay of the tooth itself, and hidden dental structures, such as teeth that have not yet erupted.
The information gathered from the x-rays gives the dentist an accurate image of what problems may arise if no action is taken. Thus, the treatment plan for the problem is diagnosed in the most accurate way to minimize unnecessary work that could be avoided by viewing what is actually going on in the dark hidden depths of the tooth and structure underneath the gum line and in the bone. Biochemistry has been by far the hardest class I have ever taken. I was not aware of the differences between carbon bonding that produce millions of different things from the alcohol we drink to the components of explosive material.
Mr. Granderson has been a wonderful teacher because I have actually learned a lot from the course. The information I have learned is tied to things that I use everyday whether it be at work or the materials I use to clean my carpet. I understand now how many things break down and cause reactions which give the ideal desired results. The class taught me how to manage my time and even how to think on my feet. I never would have guessed that I would have learned valuable life traits during this class.
I am very proud of the information I obtained and am able to regurgitate to other people on basically everything. I can and will carry this information with me for the rest of my life to help further my career and my understanding of the materials I use. Biochemistry happens to be my favorite subject now that I have taken his course and covers such a variety of things that I can tie it to almost everything I use and do. I can understand how the food I eat gets broken down in my digestive system and where it does after that.
I also can visually picture the structural make up of common house hold materials like rubbing alcohol thanks to the extensive homework I was assigned through out the class where I was expected to draw and write out the molecular formula and the structural formula. This class has taught me so much and I truly am grateful for taking this class with such a zany teacher. I would evaluate this course on a strict level and recommend that it only be taken if the student has ample amount of time to dedicate to the course.
There are many assignments I believe are assigned for busy work. The instructor explains every component of the course descriptively so that comprehension is at a maximum level. This is a bonus of the course because other teachers do not feel the need to elaborate on if it is already explained in technical terms in the assigned readings or pamphlets. The lab attached to the course was just as informative because as we were learning in the lecture, we were actually acting out the reactions and experiments learned in the lab.
Also, the lab had a lot of unnecessary homework that I believe was there for busy work. Both the lab and the lecture homework must be done in a specific way to receive full credit. I believe this was required because many students do not read or understand what is expected of them fully through out their lifetime. This course taught me how to comprehend exactly what I must do and exactly how I must follow through with what is expected of me. I believe this was the most important thing I learned throughout my life.
I am aware now that I am capable of almost anything if I put my mind to it. Bibliography http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Nuclear_medicine http://health. howstuffworks. com/nuclear-medicine. htm http://www. petnm. unimelb. edu. au/nucmed/detail/risks. html http://www. radiologyinfo. org/en/info. cfm? pg=gennuclear http://ajph. aphapublications. org/cgi/reprint/62/12/1568. pdf https://www. beaumonthospitals. com/radiation-risks-for-nuclear-medicine-exams http://www. snm. org/ http://www. molecularimagingcenter. org/index. cfm? PageID=7083 http://www. webmd. com/oral-health/dental-x-rays.