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Radioisotopes for medical diagnosis and treatment
Article By:
Bruynseraede, Yvan Department of Physics and Astronomy, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
Ponsard, Bernard BR2 Reactor, SCK•CEN, Mol, Belgium.
Last reviewed:2013
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.YB130163
Medical radioactive isotopes will continue to play a major role in the advancement of twenty-first-century medicine. They are currently showing outstanding results in both diagnostic and therapeutic medical applications, which will continue to expand for all major diseases (cancer, heart disease, arthritis, Alzheimer disease, and so forth) for the rest of the century. Nuclear medicine uses radiation to provide diagnostic information about the functioning of a person's specific organs, or to treat them. Radiotherapy can be used to treat some medical conditions, especially cancer, using radiation to weaken or destroy particular targeted cells.
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