Medical imaging

The emissions from the decay of beta participles and gamma waves are commonly used in medical imaging. Rubidium-82 and strontium-82 are used for PET (positron emission tomography) imaging, gamma rays used in x-rays and technetium-99 which is the most common radioisotope, according to the World Nuclear Associations statistic of ‘85% of diagnostic scans in nuclear medicine worldwide’. (World Nuclear Association, 2021)

This is mainly due to their short half-life, meaning they remain in the patient’s body during the specific procedure and eventually decay afterwards. (McCarthy and Thomas, n.d., p. 577)

Radiation sterilisation leaves no residue and can be performed directly in the packaging.

(Cleanroom Technology, 2018)

Sterilisation, radiotherapy and radioactive tracers

The use of radiation in medicine can be summarised into three overarching uses; sterilisation, radiotherapy and radioactive tracers.

  • Sterilisation is when radiation is used for hygiene purposes, to completely remove and kill germs. This is completed by using gamma radiation when the instruments are placed in a sealed container and exposed to this.

  • Radiotherapy is used to remove cancerous tumours (which occur when cancerous cells behave abnormally by growing and multiplying into a malignant clump), when they are in an inoperable location, such as the brain. This form of cancer treatment is highly effective and completed through the exposure of gamma radiation to these specific cancerous areas.

  • Radioisotopes can also be used to track the movement of chemicals in the body. This means the specific radioisotope used monitors the flow of materials in the body by detecting the radiation the tracer emits. The most useful tracer is iodine-131, which has a half-life of around 8 days. Sodium-24 is also used which has a 15-hour half-life. (Radioactivity in Medicine, 2006, p. 1-1)