TREATMENT AND PREVENTION |
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| Nuclear median procedures often
provide important information that allows the physician to detect and treat
a disease early in its course. Because we are able to diagnose the
disease of cancer early in its stages before any physical symptoms arise,
it is a measure of PREVENTION of the disease or cancer.
Nuclear medicine uses very small amounts of radioactive materials or radio pharmaceuticals to diagnose and treat disease. These radioactive materials are introduced into the body and because they are attracted to specific organs, bones of tissues, the emissions they produce can provide crucial information about a particular cancer or disease in order for it to be treated and prevent it from further development. During the last decade, major progress has been made in the treatment of disease with radioisotopes. Currently the most common therapeutic uses of medical isotopes are for the treatment of thyroid and prostate cancer, cancer bone pain and polycythaemia (abnormal red cell and blood increase). Radioimmunotherapy is one of the ways in which diseases and cancer, in particular, are treated. This discovery uses millions of cancer seeking antibodies to guide radiation the the cancer. The radiation rides along like a backpack as the antibodies flow through the blood stream. When the antibodies arrive at the cancer site, they attach and remain there, giving their radioactive "backpacks" plenty of time to destroy the cancer cells. Popular names for radioimmunotherapy include: "smart bullets", "smart bombs", "guided missiles". These are great descriptors for life-saving technology because they literally seek for and destroy diseases. |
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