Question

Briefly describe radiopharmaceutical route in a nuclear medicine department from the delivery to the different paths of its disposal?

Answer 1

Nuclear medicine is a highly multi-disciplinary specialty that develops and uses instrumentation and radiopharmaceuticals to study physiological processes and non-invasively diagnose and treat diseases.

A radiopharmaceutical is either a radionuclide alone, such as iodine-131 or a radionuclide that is attached to a carrier molecule (a drug, protein, or peptide) or particle, which when introduced into the body by injection, swallowing, or inhalation accumulates in the organ or tissue of interest.Radionuclides (also called radioisotopes) are chemical elements that are radioactive. The nucleus of an unstable radionuclide becomes stable by emitting energy, such as alpha or beta particles. The nucleus may also emit energy in the form of electromagnetic radiation known as gamma rays. Although radionuclides can be found in nature, all radionuclides used in nuclear medicine are produced in linear accelerators, cyclotrons, or nuclear reactors. Each radionuclide has unique properties that make it useful for certain diagnostic and therapeutic tools.

Nuclear medicine has been developed over the past 50 years through a unique partnership among the national laboratories, academia, and industry. They have collaborated to develop:

• nuclear reactors and particle accelerators that produce radionuclides;
• chemical processes to synthesize radiopharmaceuticals that can be used for imaging and treatment; and
• instruments that can detect radiation emitted from the radionuclides that accumulate in the human body. Further development of the field will likely contribute substantially to the development of personalized medicine by (1) providing more efficient and lower cost strategies to bring new drugs to market; (2) developing new and more effective treatments for cancer and cardiovascular disease; (3) improving understanding of abnormal physiological conditions; and (4) developing new, effective anticancer drugs. Moreover, new developments in accelerator engineering, computer science, materials science, chemistry, and nanotechnology suggest that a new generation of nuclear medicine instruments and radiopharmaceuticals can now be made that will be less expensive, more widely available, and more precise. Although there are challenges ahead, by investing in the infrastructure of radionuclide production; committing to train and nurture the next generation of nuclear medicine researchers, technicians, and clinicians; and developing a program that will sustain nuclear medicine research, we will all reap the benefits of better health care.