radiopharmaceutics/nuclear medicine Flashcards
what is nuclear medicine?
a branch of medicine that utilizes radioisotopes and radiation in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases
what is a nuclear pharmacist?
a pharmacist that prepares radioactive materials
what is radioactivity
this is the energy/radiation that is released as particles try to get into a stable state
(it is the breakdown/decay of an unstable isotope)
what are alpha particles? how big are they and how easily can they be stopped?
these are fast moving HELIUM ATOMS that have very high energy due to their large mass. they can be stopped by a few inches of air or a piece of paper
what are beta particles?
these are fast moving electrons that come from the nucleus of the atom and are very small and light. they can penetrate through several feet of air or several millimeters of tissue/plastic
what are positrons?
the counter parts to beta particles
what happens when beta particles and positrons collide?
they neutralize eachother
what are gamma particles?
photons that are just like light but have much higher energy
are the energy in gamma particles always the same?
no, it depends. this is why it can sometimes only take some aluminum foil to stop it and other times it can take inches of lead to stop it.
what does “m” stand for and what does it mean?
metastable, this means that the atom is stable as long as it is only exposed to small changes
what is technitium? what is its half life and what does that means about the image it can provide?
a very common isotope that is used in 80% of procedures and has a half life of about 6 hours which is fairly short. this means that it can be cleared from the body really fast and provide a really clear image
what kind of emmission does techtinium have? what does this mean for patient exposure?
gamma, with no beta at all. this means that the patient will be minimally exposed
what is the half-life of techtinium? and why? what does this mean for the clarity of the images it makes?
6 hours because it is renally excreted. this means it makes clearer images because the shorter the half-life the clearer the images will be
what is cardiolite used for?
pyocardial perfusions, breast cancer, and parathyroid
what is cardiolite’s mechanism of actions
when the drug is injected intot he patient’s body it slowly begins to be taken in by the myocardium of the heart. the amount of cardiolite that is taken in is proportional to the amount of blood flow that is getting to the various parts of the heart and this allows the ischemic part of the heart to be determined.
how long should you wait to do a stress test after cardiolite is injected?
1 hour
what is a stress test
walking on the tredmill
what element is fluorodeoxyglucose make up of?
Flourine-18
what kind of decay does fluorodeoxyglucose have?
positron emission
what is fluorodeoxyglucose used for?
detecting cancers and tumors that can not be visualized with an MRI, the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s, and brain activity in the patient
what is the half life of fluorodeoxyglucose?
110 minutes, so it needs to be used pretty fast
what is the mechanism of action of fluorodeoxyglucose?
it has glucose on it, which is highly taken up by tumors. So a lot of this material will me taken up by the tumor and we will be able to see where it is.
how long should a patient wait after injection of fluorodeoxyglucose to be tested?
1 hour, they should wait in a dark room if their brain is being tested for activity and they should rest until the testing begins
what is a fume hood
this is a PEC for making radioactive pharmaceuticals. everything is lined with lead that is 3/4 of an inch and the calibrators are lined with 2 inches of lead
what is an L-block
this is a shield that is 3/4 inches thick of lead and protects the radioactive pharmacist from being effects by the radiation.
what is a hot cell and what is an example of a radiopharmaceutical that would be compounded in a hot cell?
this is a shielded nuclear radiation containment chamber that is is used to protect people by keeping everything in a containment box where they manipulate the dosage form with two mechanical arms. FDG is in this because it is very high energy with POSITRON emission
what is a Geiger-Mueller Survey meter?
a machine that detects radioactivity
What is a pig in nuclear pharmacy? what are they made of?
a lead or tungsten made container that is used to transport radioactive pharmaceuticals
which of the 4 radiation particle types are positive?
alpha and positrons
what radiation particle is used in a SPECT?
gamma
what radiation particle is used in a PET?
positrons
what way does the air flow in a PEC used to compound radioactive pharmaceuticals?
verticle
what is a compounding kit in radiopharmaceuticals? why do we use them?
this is a premade commercially sold kit that only has to be mixed with the radioactive isotope to be ready to give to the patient. they are very fast and cut down of the time to make certain pharmaceuticals and that is great because time is crucial in radiopharmaceuticals
are compounding kits open or closed systems?
closed, because all you have to do is add the isotope
what 4 things are included in a compounding kit?
- buffers
- antioxidants
- ligands
- reductants
what are three devices that help pharmacists tell how much radiation they have been exposed to?
pens, rings, badges
is radioactive decay zero or first order?
first
what are the two units for radioactivity?
Curie (Ci) and Becquerel (Bq)
what does Curies (Cis) represent?
the amount of radioactive isotope that is needed for 37 billion isotopes to disintegrate per second. 1 Ci=37,000,000,000 decays/second
what are Becquerels (Bqs)?
this is the SI unit that has now exceted the Curie (Ci) and 1 Bq= 1 decay/sec
what is an authorized user?
this is a practitioner that is authorized by the State Board of Health to use radiopharmaceuticals
what is a radiopharmaceutical?
any substance defined as a drug that exhibits spontaneous distigration of unstable nuclei with the emission of nuclear particles or photons and includes any such drug which is intended to be made radioactive
Radiopharmaceutical Quality Assurance
the performance of appropriate chemical, biological, and physcial tests on radiopharmaceuticals, and the interpretation of the resulting data to determine their suitability for use in humans and animals, including internal tests and record keeping of product history.
1 Ci = 37 __
GBq
1 mCi = 37 __
MBq
1 μCi = 37 __
KBq
