Molecular Imaging , and Radiopharmaceuticals : Benefits in Diagnosis , Treatment Outcomes , and Public Health

Although the term “nuclear medicine” sounds contemporary, its exact history and study of uses date to the late 19th century. Nuclear medicine is a noninvasive, multi-disciplinary technique involving radiopharmaceuticals and instrumentation to examine physiological functions and diagnose, stage, and treat diseases. The World Health Organization designates nuclear medicine as a medical specialty that employs radioactive materials to diagnose or treat a patient’s condition. Nuclear medicine is also used in medical research. The application of nuclear medicine is typically conducted as an outpatient procedure for assessing or treating functional disorders. Nuclear medicine comprises molecular imaging, such as molecular magnetic resonance spectroscopy, magnetic resonance imaging, targeted ultrasound, optical bioluminescence, optical fluorescence, positron emission tomography, and single-photon emission computerized tomography. Radiopharmaceuticals are radioactive agents used in therapeutic and diagnostic procedures—and are organized into four categories: radiopharmaceutical preparations (a ready-to-use formulation suitable for human consumption), radionuclide generator (“offspring” radionuclide separated from the parent radionuclide in developing radiopharmaceutical preparations), radiopharmaceutical precursor (a radionuclide designed for radio-labeling procedures using a radiopharmaceutical preparation), and a radiopharmaceutical preparation kit (a multidose vial that may need further processing, such as heating, boiling, filtering, and buffering to create a radiopharmaceutical preparation, and must be used within 12h). Nuclear medicine techniques include PET, PET-CT, SPECT, microPET, and micro-CAT. Nearly 10,000 hospitals worldwide use radionuclides (about 90% of their use is for diagnostic purposes). The most frequently used radionucleotide in diagnostics is 99mTc, comprising about 40 million examinations per year and accounting for 80% of all examinations in nuclear medicine worldwide. The application of nuclear medicine has upgraded patient care and medical research in numerous ways. Nuclear imaging allows physicians to cost-effectively obtain medical data that would be otherwise unobtainable or need more invasive and costly procedures. Nuclear medicine in telediagnosis is currently well-regarded concerning the digitization of images, image compression, the transmission of images, and data interpretation. Teleradiology systems are widely accepted in clinical practice. Nuclear medicine plays an essential role in specific medical specialties, including oncology, cardiology, neurology, and psychiatry. Training for nuclear medicine includes a radiation medicine diploma program, a 1-year diploma course in medical physics and techniques, a diplomate program in medical radioisotope techniques; more expanded specialty programs are being developed and introduced. Nuclear medicine and radiopharmaceutical procedures are vital to medicine and specific medical procedures.