Nuclear medicine against cancer
Every year, more than 50 million procedures are performed in the field of nuclear medicine. This field combines developments in clinical medicine, molecular biology, pharmacology, nuclear physics, and organic chemistry. The convergence of these disciplines makes it possible to use ionizing radiation in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, heart diseases, thyroid diseases, and neurological problems. Nuclear medicine has improved the process of diagnosing diseases with new practices and technologies. One of them is positron emission tomography. The patient is administered a radiopharmaceutical special, which includes radioisotopes that emit the antiparticle of the electron. The most common of them is similar in structure to ordinary glucose and is harmless to human. Then the body is scanned and an image is obtained. On it, the tumor cells are highlighted with bright spots, as they absorb more of the drug. The procedure allows us to draw conclusions about the size of the tumor and the stage of the disease, localization and speed of spread of foci. Therefore, the process of developing individual treatment is accelerated.