Cell and Gene Therapy

Nuclear Medicine

Nuclear medicine is a branch of medical imaging that involves the application of radioactive substances called radiotracers that are generally injected into the bloodstream, inhaled or swallowed. The radiotracer then travels through the area being examined and gives off energy in the form of gamma rays, which are detected by a special camera and a computer to create images of inside the body. It is used to diagnose or determine the severity of or treat different types of diseases like many types of cancers, heart disease, neurological disease, gastrointestinal disease, and other abnormalities inside the body. As nuclear medicine techniques are able to identify molecular activity within the body, they offer the capability to detect diseases in its very early stages as well as a patient’s immediate response to therapeutic interventions. There are two most common imaging methods in nuclear medicine, one is Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography or SPECT and the other is Positron Emission Tomography or PET scans.