Nuclear Medicine Imaging......what is it?

This is a Gamma Camera. It is Gamma rays as opposed to X-rays that we detect. The only difference between the two is where they originate. X-rays come form orbiting electrons of an atom that are knocked out of orbit or moving to a different orbital level. Gamma rays come from the nucleus of and atom during radioactive decay. Radioactive decay is simply a physical process whereby an atom has too many protons or neutrons and is very unstable and in an attempt to become stable emits radiation. Nuclear medicine likes the Gamma rays which we use for imaging and the Beta particles which we use for therapies. The radiation that we use is 99mTechnetium usually attached to a drug to deliever it to the organ we want to scan. Once the drug radiation-combination is incorporated into the organ of interest, we image. Sometimes we image as the radiation is being delievered and sometimes there are delays of up to two or three days for some studies. Our studies are functional which allows us to get an indication of organ function over a period of time. This is where I will hemostat. If you want more info you can always google. If you would like to ask me a question concerning nuclear medicine drop me an email. I am sure that this discipline will come up again in topics once we get going.