Summarizing Medical Imaging and Diagnostics

Medical Imaging and Diagnostics Summary

• Radiopharmaceuticals are compounds that are used for medical imaging and therapeutics.
• The process of attaching a radioactive substance is called tagging.
• This table lists certain diagnostic uses of radiopharmaceuticals including the isotope and activity typically used in diagnostics.
• One common imaging device is the Anger camera, which consists of a lead collimator, radiation detectors, and an analysis computer.
• Tomography performed with \(\gamma \)-emitting radiopharmaceuticals is called SPECT and has the advantages of x-ray CT scans coupled with organ- and function-specific drugs.
• PET is a similar technique that uses \({\beta }^{+}\) emitters and detects the two annihilation \(\gamma \) rays, which aid to localize the source.

Glossary

Anger camera

a common medical imaging device that uses a scintillator connected to a series of photomultipliers

gamma camera

another name for an Anger camera

positron emission tomography (PET)

tomography technique that uses \({\beta }^{+}\) emitters and detects the two annihilation \(\gamma \) rays, aiding in source localization

radiopharmaceutical

compound used for medical imaging

single-photon-emission computed tomography (SPECT)

tomography performed with \(\gamma \)-emitting radiopharmaceuticals

tagged

process of attaching a radioactive substance to a chemical compound