Nuclear Medicine:How it Works and its Relationship with other Medicine (Essay Sample)

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Institution
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Health Science and Nursing
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Assignment: Nuclear Medicine
Nuclear medicine entails most predominantly little amounts radiotracers, which are basically radioactive substances, which are either swallowed, injected, or inhaled into the body. It is a noninvasive procedure which is known for its painless nature, with an exception of the intravenous injection.
The x-ray radiation type is used in most procedures in this medicine, through which the x-ray rays pass across the body, creating an image showing the concentration of gamma rays released by the radioactive substances already consumed into the body. According to Paez & Gnanasegaran (2020), this image gives detailed information of the person’s body tissues and organs, hence helping in assessing their functioning. The focus of nuclear medicine is always on the inside of the body, and hence observing the body metabolism rate, and body chemical concentrations and activities. Areas with more activity, as detailed in the image, are termed as hot spots while the areas with less activities are known as cold spots.
Before, the procedure begins, the patients have to be prepared for it. The outlook preparation includes wearing of a gown, removal of any jewelry materials on the individual’s hands, legs or any other part, personal accessories such as mobile phones and/ or keys, and relaxation. The examiner, as stated by Yordanova & Eppard (2017), will confirm cases of pregnancy and/ or breastfeeding, pre-determined health conditions, allergies, among the usage of some medications which may influence the outcome of the procedure such as herbal treatments and/or vitamins.
There are several advantages nuclear medicine, which include the unique results the procedure provides, that are almost unachievable using other methods, it is cheap and yet gives the most reliable diagnosis and/or treatment data, and can detect a disease prior to its symptoms. The procedure has limitations too, which include a reduced radiation exposure caused by the use of lesser doses of radiotracer substances, and the fact that it’s a relatively new procedure used for about six decades, and therefore we have little information on its long- term effects, as argued by Taïeb & Hicks (2019).
Nuclear medicine is useful in diagnosing and treating several diseases which include heart attack, metastatic bone ailment, tumors, among many others. It is applied in diverse topics such as the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which is useful in visualizing blood flow and/ or detecting coronary artery ailment. Biopsy site identification and bone tumor evaluation are other applications of this medicine in MRI, alongside the detection of Alzheimer’s disease.
Radiopharmaceuticals have been in use in the recent past, around twenty years in cancer tr