Nuclear Medicine

Nuclear medicine (also called molecular imaging) includes positron emission computed tomography (PET) and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging. Nuclear imaging is achieved by injecting small amounts of radioactive material (radiopharmaceuticals) into patients before or during their scan. These can use sugars or chemical traits to bond to specific cells. The radioactive material is taken up by cells that consume the sugars. The radiation emitted from inside the body is detected by photon detectors outside the body. Computers take the data to assemble images of the radiation emissions. Nuclear images may appear fuzzy or ghostly rather than the sharper resolution from MRI and CT.  But, it provides metabolic information at a cellular level, showing if there are defects in the function of the heart, areas of very high metabolic activity associated with cancer cells, or areas of inflammation, data not available from other modalities. These noninvasive imaging exams are used to diagnose cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, bone disorders and other disorders. 

Jamie Bourque, MD, medical director of the nuclear cardiology and stress laboratory, and medical director of the echocardiography lab, at the University of Virginia, discusses a new multimodality consensus statement for imaging cardiac amyloidosis. This area has rapidly expanded over the past couple years now that there are drugs to treat the condition. Examples of nuclear imaging for cardiac amyloidosis.

New ASNC quality metrics will support standardization of imaging for cardiac amyloidosis

Interest in cardiac amyloidosis has been on the rise in recent years. Jamie Bourque, MD, talked to Cardiovascular Business about an upcoming consensus statement focused on using cardiac imaging to evaluate patients for signs of this serious condition. 

January 18, 2024
Rob deKemp, PhD, FASNC, University of Ottawa, Canada, explains new nuclear cardiac imaging dose lowering techniques for PET and SPECT.

How to achieve much lower radiation doses in cardiac nuclear imaging

The radiation doses associated with CT have decreased significantly, leaving nuclear cardiology as the modality with the highest doses in all of cardiac imaging. Rob deKemp, PhD, talked to us about some of the many ways imagers can work to address this issue.

January 17, 2024
ovaries ovarian cancer

Lab receives $30M funding to illuminate lung and ovarian cancers

On Target Laboratories will use the funding to expand the market reach of its molecular imaging agent.

January 16, 2024

FDA approves radiopharmaceutical manufacturing site in Indianapolis

The new facility is run by Novartis and is being called the “most advanced of its kind."

January 8, 2024
Bhvita Jani, medical imaging principal analyst, Signify Research, discusses growing trend of theragnostics in nuclear imaging and oncology at RSNA2023. #theragnostics #RSNA #RSNA23 #RSNA2023 #radiology #NucMed #Oncology

Theragnostics: A growing trend in molecular imaging

Bhvita Jani, medical imaging principal analyst at Signify Research, discusses the evolution of theragnostics and its applications in nuclear imaging and oncology.

January 4, 2024

Pyrophosphate imaging agent shortage reported, could last weeks

Supply chain disruptions are blamed for the lack of production.

December 21, 2023
Brain MRI AI assessment and segmentation on Fujifilm's Synapse system at RSNA 2023. Photo by Dave Fornell. #RSNA #RSNA23 #RSNA2023

PHOTO GALLERY: New technology at RSNA 2023

Images from the world's largest radiology conference include new technologies and the latest advances in MRI, CT, nuclear medicine, X-ray, artificial intelligence, and PACS/enterprise imaging.

December 11, 2023
 International Workshop on Medical Radioisotopes Supply, October 2023

Medical radioisotope supply chain faces future crisis, Nuclear Energy Agency warns

Outdated infrastructure and a lack of young people entering the field are both impacting the security of critical isotopes such as molybdenum-99.

December 8, 2023

Around the web

Two advanced algorithms—one for CAC scores and another for segmenting cardiac chamber volumes—outperformed radiologists when assessing low-dose chest CT scans. 

"Gen AI can help tackle repetitive tasks and provide insights into massive datasets, saving valuable time," Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud, said Tuesday. 

SCAI and four other major healthcare organizations signed a joint letter in support of intravascular ultrasound. 

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