Nuclear Medicine

Nuclear Medicine is a highly specialized diagnostic technique in which radioactive tracer pharmaceuticals (i.e. radiopharmaceuticals) are injected and then imaged as they move through the body using a gamma camera. Nuclear Medicine departments are found in medium and large community hospitals and in all teaching hospitals. Because of the unique capacity of Nuclear Medicine to permit non-invasive diagnosis, often on an out-patient basis, the number of such departments has increased rapidly over the past forty years. There are presently about 3,700 departments in North America, of which 250 are found in Canada.
 

The acquisition of a two or three dimensional image is the basis of Nuclear Medicine and it involves recording the spatial distribution of the radiopharmaceutical inside the human body. The image is obtained by means of a scanning device called a gamma camera. Such a device can provide a 2D or 3D image of the whole body or a specific organ and a quantitative distribution of the radiopharmaceutical within that area. Nuclear Medicine has progressed in recent years to the point where it can provide both static and dynamic high resolution images such as the motion of the heart wall, the emptying of the gallbladder, esophageal reflux and blood flow in the brain. More importantly, Nuclear Medicine provides not only morphological images but also biochemical and functional information of specific organs and processes, none of which are currently obtainable by any other technique.
 

Radiopharmaceuticals are designed to accumulate in the area or organ of interest and have suitable decay and radiation characteristics that permit easy detection and measurement. Although radiopharmaceuticals involve the use of radioactivity, the radiation exposure to the patient is very low and typically much less than that required for an X-ray procedure. Nuclear Medicine tests are performed with a minimum of discomfort and inconvenience to the patient. They involve less risk than most of the alternative techniques such as biopsies, other invasive methods of investigation and some radiological procedures such as contrast imaging.

Links to Nuclear Medicine and Radiopharmacy

Canadian Association of Radiopharmaceutical Scientists
http://www.radiopharmacycanada.com/index.html

Canadian Nuclear Society
http://www.cns-snc.ca/

Canadian Society of Nuclear Medicine
http://www.csnm-scmn.ca/

American Society of Nuclear Medicine
http://www.snm.org/

European Nuclear Medicine Association
http://www.eanm.org/

Quebec Association of Nuclear Medicine Specialists
http://www.medecinenucleaire.com