INTRODUCTION TO NUCLEAR MEDICINE INLCUDING PET/CT AND THERAPY Flashcards
What is nuclear medicine?
A: The use of radioisotopes or radiopharmaceuticals (radiotracers) for investigating or treating various disease processes, both benign and malignant.
How does nuclear medicine imaging differ from anatomical imaging?
A: Nuclear medicine imaging is functional (physiological), while anatomical imaging (e.g., X-rays, CT scans) focuses on structure.
What is the most important characteristic of a radiotracer?
A: It can study the body’s systems without interfering with their functions.
What are isotopes?
A: Elements with the same atomic number but different mass numbers.
Give examples of iodine isotopes.
A: I-131, I-125, I-124, and I-127.
What are radioisotopes or radionuclides?
A: Isotopes with unstable nuclei that release radiation when decaying to become stable.
What is a radiopharmaceutical?
A: A combination of a radioisotope with a biologically active molecule or drug that ensures proper biodistribution and localization.
Name some radioisotopes that do not require a tracer.
A: Radioactive iodine, thallium, and gallium.
Q: What are the types of radionuclides based on emissions?
Gamma emitters: Technetium-99m, Iodine-131, Gallium-67.
Positron emitters: Fluorine-18, Carbon-11, Rubidium-82.
How are radionuclides produced?
A:
Nuclear fission (e.g., Iodine-131) in nuclear reactors.
Cyclotrons (e.g., Fluorine-18, Iodine-123).
What is a molybdenum generator used for?
A: To produce technetium-99m from molybdenum-99
What do gamma cameras and PET cameras detect?
A:
Gamma cameras: Detect gamma rays for SPECT imaging.
PET cameras: Detect photons from positron emitters for PET imaging.
Gamma cameras: Detect gamma rays for SPECT imaging.
PET cameras: Detect photons from positron emitters for PET imaging.
What is hybrid imaging?
A: A combination of nuclear medicine and anatomical imaging (e.g., SPECT/CT, PET/CT, PET/MRI).
: What is the clinical use of PET/CT imaging?
:
A: It is used in oncology, cardiology, infection/inflammation, and neurology.
What is the Warburg effect?
A
A: The preference of tumor cells to use glucose for ATP production even in the presence of oxygen.
What are some PET radioisotopes?
Fluorine-18 (F-18 FDG).
Carbon-11.
Nitrogen-13.
Rubidium-8
: Name examples of beta emitters used for therapy.
.
A: Iodine-131, Lutetium-177.
name examples of alpha emitters used for therapy.
A: Actinium-225, Bismuth-213.
What are the clinical applications of Iodine-131?
A:
Treatment of well-differentiated thyroid cancers.
Graves’ disease.
Toxic adenoma of the thyroid gland.
Toxic multinodular goiter.
What tracers are used for prostate cancer imaging and therapy?
Imaging: Gallium-68 PSMA.
Therapy: Lutetium-177 PSMA.
hat is the greatest advantage of nuclear medicine imaging?
A: Its ability to detect early physiological changes, often before anatomical changes.
