How is Nuclear medicine different from radiation therapy ?
1.Nuclear medicine is administered orally, whereas an external radiation beam is used in radiation therapy.
2.Nuclear Medicine cannot be used for diagnostic purposes, whereas radiation therapy can be.

Which of the above is/are correct ?

A radiopharmaceutical is a chemical substance that contains radioactive atoms within its structure and is suitable for administration to humans for diagnosis or treatment of disease

Justification: Statement 2: Nuclear medicine is the medical specialty, which utilizes the nuclear properties of radioactive nuclides for diagnostic evaluation and / or physiological conditions of the body and provides therapy with unsealed radioactive sources.

Statement 1: In radiation therapy an external radiation beam or sealed sources are used for destroying the cancerous tissue whereas in nuclear medicine the radiopharmaceutical is administered orally and then using a gamma - camera, image of a particular organ is taken for diagnosis of the disease.

The therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals contain radionuclide, which emit particulate emission which help in destroying the unwanted (cancerous)tissues.

By: kamaljeet kaur