Advanced Nuclear Medicine

Advanced Nuclear Medicine
Unlike general radiology, which examines how your body looks, nuclear medicine takes images of how your organs and tissues function. To do this, small amounts of a radioactive substance called a “radionuclide” are injected or swallowed and then scanned with special gamma cameras such as PET (Positron Emission Tomography) or SPECT (Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography). A nuclear medicine specialist interprets these images to diagnose disease and determine whether the patient needs further tests.

Nuclear medicine is often used to help diagnose and treat diseases such as thyroid cancer, heart disease, inflammatory disorders of the bones or joints, gastrointestinal problems, blood disorders, and some types of cancers. It also helps assess the effectiveness of certain cancer treatments and can identify recurrent tumors. This link https://int.livhospital.com/nuclear-medicine/

How Advanced Nuclear Medicine Is Transforming Patient Care

Recent innovations in both the radiopharmaceuticals and equipment that enable molecular imaging have resulted in many new diagnostic and therapeutic applications. These include theranostic applications that pair diagnosis with therapy in which a radionuclide is used to both diagnose and treat a patient’s disease, as well as novel SPECT/CT-PET tracers such as 177Lu-PSMA ligands that have shown efficacy in two underdiagnosed cardiomyopathies: cardiac amyloidosis and sarcoidosis.

These exciting advances in nuclear medicine and molecular imaging will transform clinical practice as we move into the era of personalized healthcare. To fully capitalize on these advances, the specialty must invest in a more robust and broad base of expertise within its existing departments. We call this the “New Clear” Medicine – and it’s time to act now.