Scientific And Technical Concepts Related To Nuclear Medicine (Research Paper Sample)

Scientific and technical concepts related to nuclear medicine
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Radiation typically used in nuclear medicine
According to a study conducted by Tabeie et al (2018), more than 40 million nuclear medicine procedures are performed every year CITATION Tab18 \l 2057 (Tabeie, et al., 2018). The study also found out that the demand for radioisotopes is increasing by 5% every year. Most nuclear medicine procedures apply radioisotopes in the provision of diagnostic information about the functionality of a patient’s body. Radioisotopes are used in different medical procedures such as the destruction of particular targeted cancerous cells, and the sterilization of medical equipment CITATION Lov16 \l 2057 (Love & Palestro , 2016). The use of radioisotopes enables a clinical expert to make a quick diagnosis of a patient’s illness. 
Patient preparation
Different patient preparatory approaches are undertaken by clinical experts before undertaking a nuclear medicine procedure. These approaches depend on the types of procedures to be undertaken. A patient undergoing a biliary scan is not required to eat or drink anything for four hours. Patients undergoing bone scan and lung scan require no preparation while those undergoing gastric emptying study are required to keep off foods and drinks for at least 12 hours CITATION Lar17 \l 2057 (Larcos, Prgomet, Georgiou, & Westbrook, 2017). A nuclear medicine procedure involving renal scan requires the patient to take two glasses of water before the test. A patient undergoing thyroid scan must cease from taking anti-thyroid medications for five days before such procedure is undertaken. In a nutshell, patient preparation is dependent on the type of procedure to be undertaken and its scope.