Abstract
Nuclear medicine utilizes radioactive tracers to assess organ function. These tracers are called radiopharmaceuticals, and many different radiopharmaceuticals are used depending on the organ or system to be studied. After administration to the patient, usually by intravenous injection, the amount of radiopharmaceutical appearing in different parts of the body is monitored by detecting the radioactivity. This can be done with nonimaging tests (e.g., GFR), involving only blood samples, or by taking images with a gamma camera (e.g., DMSA scan). Nuclear medicine images have poor spatial resolution demonstrating physiology rather than anatomy and so are complementary to other imaging modalities.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Further Reading
Sharp PF, Gemmell HG, Murray AD. Practical nuclear medicine. 3rd ed. London: Springer; 2005.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Springer-Verlag London
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Lawson, R. (2012). Radionuclides and Their Uses in Urology. In: Payne, S., Eardley, I., O'Flynn, K. (eds) Imaging and Technology in Urology. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-2422-1_18
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-2422-1_18
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-4471-2421-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-4471-2422-1
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)