Nuclear Medicine Therapy

Nuclear medicine therapy is a treatment approach used to treat cancer. It is used with other cancer treatment options like chemotherapy, and surgery. 

- Dr Jyotsana Anand Suri

When the patient doesn't respond to other treatment options Nuclear medicine therapy could be an option.

Nuclear medicine therapy uses radionuclides for the therapy of a disease process. Patient exposure in nuclear medicine is common thus protection from radiation should be taken care of.

In Nuclear medicine therapy, radioactive drugs are injected intravenously, they stick to tumor cells, and radiations are delivered directly to cancer cells that cause them to die without affecting the nearby healthy tissues. The drug that doesn't kill cancer cells, stays in the blood and is removed from the body through urine.

What is the difference between radiation therapy and nuclear medicine therapy?

In radiation therapy x rays enter the body from the outside however in Nuclear medicine therapy, radioactive molecules are injected intravenously to kill the cancer cells without affecting the nearby healthy tissues.

How is Nuclear medicine therapy carried out?

Once the diagnosis and line of treatment are confirmed, the treatment is started with Nuclear medicine. Blood investigations and radiographic investigations are carried out to identify if the patient is eligible for treatment. The patient is prepared for therapy, 4 sessions are done in therapy, and each session is done 8 weeks apart.

A team of specialists is involved that makes the ideal diagnosis and plans the treatment accordingly.

Types of Nuclear Medicine therapy

Nuclear medicine is used in two ways

Nuclear medicine in diagnosis

Nuclear medicine when used for diagnosis it is used to identify a wide range of health issues. The radiopharmaceutical is either inhaled by the patient or injected into the patient. Wherever this material struck the camera will take the pictures and the doctor would be able to identify the problem.