radiopharmaceutics/nuclear medicine

Question 1

what is nuclear medicine?

Answer 1

a branch of medicine that utilizes radioisotopes and radiation in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases

Question 2

what is a nuclear pharmacist?

Answer 2

a pharmacist that prepares radioactive materials

Question 3

what is radioactivity

Answer 3

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)

Question 4

what are alpha particles? how big are they and how easily can they be stopped?

Answer 4

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

Question 5

what are beta particles?

Answer 5

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

Question 6

what are positrons?

Answer 6

the counter parts to beta particles

Question 7

what happens when beta particles and positrons collide?

Answer 7

they neutralize eachother

Question 8

what are gamma particles?

Answer 8

photons that are just like light but have much higher energy

Question 9

are the energy in gamma particles always the same?

Answer 9

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.

Question 10

what does “m” stand for and what does it mean?

Answer 10

metastable, this means that the atom is stable as long as it is only exposed to small changes

Question 11

what is technitium? what is its half life and what does that means about the image it can provide?

Answer 11

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

Question 12

what kind of emmission does techtinium have? what does this mean for patient exposure?

Answer 12

gamma, with no beta at all. this means that the patient will be minimally exposed

Question 13

what is the half-life of techtinium? and why? what does this mean for the clarity of the images it makes?

Answer 13

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

Question 14

what is cardiolite used for?

Answer 14

pyocardial perfusions, breast cancer, and parathyroid

Question 15

what is cardiolite’s mechanism of actions

Answer 15

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.

Question 16

how long should you wait to do a stress test after cardiolite is injected?

Answer 16

1 hour

Question 17

what is a stress test

Answer 17

walking on the tredmill

Question 18

what element is fluorodeoxyglucose make up of?

Answer 18

Flourine-18

Question 19

what kind of decay does fluorodeoxyglucose have?

Answer 19

positron emission

Question 20

what is fluorodeoxyglucose used for?

Answer 20

detecting cancers and tumors that can not be visualized with an MRI, the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s, and brain activity in the patient

Question 21

what is the half life of fluorodeoxyglucose?

Answer 21

110 minutes, so it needs to be used pretty fast

Question 22

what is the mechanism of action of fluorodeoxyglucose?

Answer 22

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.

Question 23

how long should a patient wait after injection of fluorodeoxyglucose to be tested?

Answer 23

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

Question 24

what is a fume hood

Answer 24

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

Question 25

what is an L-block

Answer 25

this is a shield that is 3/4 inches thick of lead and protects the radioactive pharmacist from being effects by the radiation.

Question 26

what is a hot cell and what is an example of a radiopharmaceutical that would be compounded in a hot cell?

Answer 26

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

Question 27

what is a Geiger-Mueller Survey meter?

Answer 27

a machine that detects radioactivity

Question 28

What is a pig in nuclear pharmacy? what are they made of?

Answer 28

a lead or tungsten made container that is used to transport radioactive pharmaceuticals

Question 29

which of the 4 radiation particle types are positive?

Answer 29

alpha and positrons

Question 30

what radiation particle is used in a SPECT?

Answer 30

gamma

Question 31

what radiation particle is used in a PET?

Answer 31

positrons

Question 32

what way does the air flow in a PEC used to compound radioactive pharmaceuticals?

Answer 32

verticle

Question 33

what is a compounding kit in radiopharmaceuticals? why do we use them?

Answer 33

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

Question 34

are compounding kits open or closed systems?

Answer 34

closed, because all you have to do is add the isotope

Question 35

what 4 things are included in a compounding kit?

Answer 35

• buffers
• antioxidants
• ligands
• reductants

Question 36

what are three devices that help pharmacists tell how much radiation they have been exposed to?

Answer 36

pens, rings, badges

Question 37

is radioactive decay zero or first order?

Answer 37

first

Question 38

what are the two units for radioactivity?

Answer 38

Curie (Ci) and Becquerel (Bq)

Question 39

what does Curies (Cis) represent?

Answer 39

the amount of radioactive isotope that is needed for 37 billion isotopes to disintegrate per second. 1 Ci=37,000,000,000 decays/second

Question 40

what are Becquerels (Bqs)?

Answer 40

this is the SI unit that has now exceted the Curie (Ci) and 1 Bq= 1 decay/sec

Question 41

what is an authorized user?

Answer 41

this is a practitioner that is authorized by the State Board of Health to use radiopharmaceuticals

Question 42

what is a radiopharmaceutical?

Answer 42

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

Question 43

Radiopharmaceutical Quality Assurance

Answer 43

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.

Question 44

1 Ci = 37 __

Answer 44

GBq

Question 45

1 mCi = 37 __

Answer 45

MBq

Question 46

1 μCi = 37 __

Answer 46

KBq