Nuclear medicine

Nuclear medicine is a growing specialized medical field in which radiopharmaceuticals, i.e. drugs associated to radioactivity, are used for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes. Since 1942, nuclear medicine has progressed in such a way that it became a major diagnostic tool in hospitals. The past ten years have seen the introduction of major technical breakthroughs which will considerably modify the landscape of cancer treatment. Once injected to the patient, the radiopharmaceutical drug aims at the tumour cell - including metastases - selectively, settles there, and emits radiation. Depending on the radiation type, the drug will either help identify the cells or destroy them. Applications are not limited to oncology; indeed, nuclear medicine has found interesting applications in cardiology and neurology as well. The new millennium saw the introduction of the Hybrid imaging technology PET/CT which combines the Positron Emission Tomography (PET) modality with conventional high quality x-