About my futur career : Nuclear medicine


Introduction

If you ever wanted to go in nuclear medicine or to learn about it or even learn about the related fields, this article is for you.


What is nuclear medicine ?

It's a medical specialty that uses radioactive tracers, like radiopharmaceuticals to assess bodily functions and to diagnose and treat disease.


Why do we use nuclear medicine? What are these scan used for?

These scans are used to diagnose and track the progression of heart disease, such as blocked coronary arteries. They're also used to find disorder in bones, intestine and much more. The major purpose of these scans is to detect cancer and monitor its progression, response to treatment, and to detect metastases.


Why is nuclear medicine related to radiation therapy?

Nuclear medicine is the one that finds the cancer to get treated, and it's also the thing that sees the progress and the response of treatment. After, with all the results of the nuclear medicine scans the radiation therapist can use ionizing radiation to treat the disease. The job of a radiation therapist is to treat cancers.


What do they use in nuclear medicine to see the scans?

In nuclear medicine they use radioactive tracers that are made up of carrier molecules that are bonded tightly to a radioactive atom. These carrier molecules vary greatly depending on the purpose of the scan. Also, they use cameras with a detector that receives the radioactivity to then see the image.


What is a SPECT?

SPECT = Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography It's a way of imaging that provide three-dimensional images of the distribution of radioactive tracer molecules that have been introduced into the patient’s body.


Are they're risk in nuclear medicine?

For the patient, the risk is quite small in contrast to the expected benefit derived from a medically needed diagnostic imaging study. Nuclear medicine technologist are strongly committed to keeping radiation exposure to patients as low as possible, giving the least amount of radio tracer needed to provide a diagnostically useful examination. And for the technologist, it's not a problem if he used the tools to protect himself from radiation. Don't worry the technologist protects themselves not cause its dan


IS nuclear medicine a field that is going to disappear soon?

No nuclear medicine is always developing.


How to you put the radiopharmaceuticals in the patient?

In most cases the radioactive tracer is administered to a patient by intravenous injection. However, a radioactive tracer can also be administered by inhalation, by oral ingestion, or under the skin.


How does the camera detect the radiation?

The machine that is used as gamma camera detectors that can detect the gamma ray emissions from the tracers that have been injected into the patient, before.


Does the camera move or stay still?

The cameras are mounted on a rotating gantry that allows the detectors to be moved in a tight circle around a patient who is lying motionless on a pallet.


Conclusion

These are a few questions you may have added, when you heard or read the name of the field. I hope it helps you understand a little bit more about it. If you want to know more I'll put some links at the bottom so that you can do more research. I hope you are more interested in nuclear medicine.


Source: https://www.nibib.nih.gov/science-education/science-topics/nuclear-medicine

Rationale: to inform or educate Authority: recognized author Date: recently published Accuracy: probably true Relevance: relevant for this document Sources: cites sources


Source : https://healthtimes.com.au/hub/oncology/4/guidance/nc1/what-does-a-radiation-therapist-do/553/

Rationale: to inform or educate Authority: recognized author Date: recently published Accuracy: probably true Relevance: relevant for this document Sources: cites sources


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