So, what is nuclear medicine? Nuclear medicine is a branch of medicine that utilizes the radiation emitted by radioactive isotopes for research, diagnosis, and treatment. Its development relies on radiopharmaceuticals and radiation detection equipment. Nuclear medicine involves various basic and peripheral disciplines such as nuclear medicine, biochemistry and molecular biology, immunology, applied chemistry, nuclear physics, nuclear electronics, and computer science.
Clinical nuclear medicine is generally divided into two parts: in vivo and in vitro. In vivo diagnosis, which uses ECT and PET/CT to detect the distribution of diagnostic radioactive drugs in the human body, and then generates various images for clinical diagnosis reference; In vivo therapy refers to the use of radiation emitted by therapeutic radioactive drugs (including particles) that can concentrate at the site of the lesion, in order to eliminate the diseased cells. It should be emphasized that during in vitro diagnosis and treatment, radioactive drugs do not enter the body. In vitro diagnosis, also known as labeled immunoassay, uses various substances (including radioactive or stable isotopes) to measure trace components such as hormones and tumor markers in the human body, providing reference for clinical diagnosis. Extracorporeal therapy refers to the use of radioactive substances in close contact with the skin and mucous membranes to irradiate and treat local pathological tissues.




