Introduction to the Department

Nuclear medicine is an area that applies radioisotope to disease diagnoses and treatments, playing an important role in the diagnoses and treatments of the diseases of most organs in the body, such as the cranial-nerve diseases, heart diseases, and malignant and thyroid tumors. It consists mainly of in-vivo and in-vitro examinations, treatments using unsealed radioactive sources, and biological studies.

In-vivo examination

If radioisotopes emitting gamma rays are administered to the body, they will accumulate in organs such as the brain, heart, or bone, depending on the combined radioactive drug. The gamma rays emitted from such can be made into images, using a gamma camera, to biochemically diagnose certain organs for the existence of any disease.

Not only flat images but also tomographic images (SPECT) can be obtained. Images with higher resolutions can thus be obtained, and as positron emission tomography (PET) is currently being conducted widely, the use of radioisotopes is rapidly increasing in the staging of malignant tumors and in the diagnoses of cranial diseases such as dementia and of heart diseases such as coronary artery diseases.

In-vitro examination

Very small amounts of biological substances existing in the blood can be accurately and precisely measured via radioimmunoassay using radioisotopes. Aside from body hormones such as thyroxine, the existence of viruses such as the hepatitis B antigen can be easily diagnosed quantitatively by collecting and testing blood.

Nuclear medicine treatment

By administering isotopes that emit beta rays, diseases such as hyperthyroidism or thyroid cancer can be effectively treated while minimizing the damage to the normal tissues. As new isotopes emitting beta rays are being developed, the scope of their application is increasingly expanding.

Biological examination

This easily measures the dynamic physiological factors that are not easily measured by the existing tests, such as the extent of absorption of vitamin B12 or the glomerular filtration rates, to aid in disease diagnoses.