Radiopharmaceuticals are used to diagnose and treat a variety of diseases ranging from cancer to dementia and noncancerous disorders such as broken bones. How can radiopharmaceuticals benefit the medical care of patients? Allergic reactions may occur but are extremely rare and usually mild. There are no known long-term adverse side effects from diagnostic nuclear medicine procedures, which have been performed for more than 50 years. In general, the radiation risk involved in these procedures is very low compared with the potential benefits. Of the molecular imaging techniques in use today, nuclear medicine procedures, such as PET scans and I-131 radiotherapy, use small amounts of radioactive materials, called radiopharmaceuticals or radiotracers, to diagnose and treat disease. More than 20 million Americans benefit each year from nuclear medicine procedures used to diagnose and treat a wide variety of diseases.
Molecular imaging procedures are noninvasive and very safe. What is molecular imaging and nuclear medicine? Risks associated with any medical radiation exposure are based on a variety of factors and a medical evaluation and not on any mathematical number. Age also plays a role in any risk associated with medical radiation. The same test ordered in two different patients with similar but not exactly the same disease may have a different risk profile. For example, different patients and different body parts and tissues react differently to radiation. The risk is very different from one patient to another, even for the same diagnostic or therapeutic procedure, and even though the amount of exposure is the same. The treating physician should explain the benefit of a procedure and the risks associated with not undergoing the diagnostic or therapeutic procedure. Radiation used for medical purposes has value for patients in diagnosing and treating disease. There is no proven additional risk to human beings from background radiation exposure. On an annual basis, every person is exposed to a variable amount of radiation from natural sources, such as cosmic rays, and from industrial sources.
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Naturally occurring background radiation and modern activities such as watching TV and flying in an airplane all contribute to a lifetime exposure that is only slightly increased by medical imaging.īecause natural radiation is always present in everyday life, it is impossible to be totally shielded from it. Air travel increases exposure to cosmic radiation due to the higher altitudes and less atmospheric shielding. Every year, each person is exposed to this natural radiation and radiation from a variety of other sources, including household smoke detectors and color television sets.
A small amount of radioactive material even exists naturally in our bodies. Natural radiation exposure comes from the earth in rocks and soil and from outer space in the form of cosmic rays. Other forms of radiation, such as X-rays and gamma rays, are used in a number of beneficial ways, including medicine.
The most familiar form of radiation is visible light, like that produced from the sun or a light bulb.
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