Intro and history |
|
Radiation therapy
|
Nuclear medicine is the specialty
branch of medicine which uses safe , painless , and effective techniques
both to image the body and treat diseases. It involves the use of
small amounts of radioactive materials to help with the diagnoses of diseases.
Its role usually being to evaluate the function of an organ or the type
of cells present. Procedures consist of simple blood tests, scans
of organs, and how they absorb the treatment of specific types of benign
and malignant diseases such as tumors. Scans are used to help early
detection of patients' condition for primary physicians. Abnormalities
can often be identified very early in the progression of a disease allowing
for early treatment of the disease when there may be a more successful
prognoses. Nuclear medicine plays an integral role in patient care
as it is used in the diagnoses, management, treatment and prevention of
serious disease.
Nuclear medicine primarily originates from many scientific discoveries. Mainly the discover of X-rays in 1895 and that of "artificial radiology" in 1934. In 1946 an amazing event concerning Nuclear medicine occurred. With the use of radioactivity a thyroid cancer patients' treatment revealed complete disappearance of the spread of the cancer. This has been considered a landmark in its history, however it was not until the early 1950s that official clinical practice widely spread. Simultaneously, physicians excessively began to use it for the treatment of patients. A dramatic break through for diagnostic medicine, especially in its ability to treat diseases, record and image the form and structure of an organ. Since the mid 60s growth of nuclear medicine as a specialty was phenomenal. Critical to this development were advances to Nuclear medicine technology and instrument manufactures. In the 1970s visualization of most other organs of the body of Nuclear medicine was made possible: including liver scanning, brain tumor localization and more. Heart disease diagnoses came in the 1980s done with cutting edge Nuclear medicine cameras and computers. |