Techniques that use radioactive substances to detect or treat disease. Radioactive materials, which may be injected or swallowed, are taken up by body tissues or organs in different concentrations, and an instrument called a gamma camera is used to detect and map the distribution of radiation within the body (see radionuclide scanning). In techniques for treatment, diseased tissues are destroyed by exposure to an external radioactive source or by insertion of a radioactive substance (see radiotherapy; interstitial radiotherapy; intracavitary therapy).
Nuclear medicine |
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