Medical radioactive isotopes will continue to play a major role in the advancement of

twenty-first-century medicine. They are currently showing outstanding results in both

diagnostic and therapeutic medical applications, which will continue to expand for all
major diseases (cancer, heart disease, arthritis, Alzheimer disease, and so forth) for the
rest of the century. Nuclear medicine uses radiation to provide diagnostic information
about the functioning of a person's specific organs, or to treat them. Radiotherapy can
be used to treat some medical conditions, especially cancer, using radiation to weaken
or destroy particular targeted cells. Radioisotopes are widely used to diagnose disease
and as effective treatment tools. For diagnosis, the isotope is administered and then
located in the body using a scanner of some sort. The decay product (often gamma
emission) can be located and the intensity measured. The amount of isotope taken up
by the body can then give information as to the extent of the medical problem. An
isotope of iodine (I-131) is used in both the diagnosis and treatment of thyroid cancer.
The thyroid will normally absorb iodine to produce the iodine-containing thyroid
hormones. An overactive thyroid gland will absorb the radioactive material which can
then destroy excess thyroid tissue or any cancer of the thyroid. The material is
sometimes used to image cancers in other parts of the body. Technetium-99m is
perhaps the most widely used radioisotope in diagnosis and treatment (the “m” stands
for metastable). This isotope decays to Tc-99 and a gamma emission of low intensity,
making the radiation damage fairly negligible. The half-life is about six hours, so it will
remain in the body for some time. Tc-99m can be used to look at cardiac damage. The
isotope flows in the blood stream; if there is less blood flow in the heart, there will be
less isotope concentrated in the heart muscle. Similar information can be obtained for
blood flow in the brain.

Isotopes can be very useful in scans to locate cancer cells. This patient has multiple
tumors that have spread (metastasized) from the main tumor. A radioisotope has been
attached to antibodies that bind to specific cancer cells. The very dark spots in the
armpits, neck, and groin represent areas where tumor cells exist.
Many other examples could be presented. There are presently over 25 different
isotopes in use for diagnosis and treatment. A very partial list can be seen in
the Table below.

Isotop Half-
Application
e Life

28 labeling red blood

Cr-51
days cells

study iron
446
Fe-59 metabolism in
days
spleen

study lung
Xe-133 5 days
function

26
Ho-166 cancer treatment
hours

Nuclear medicine uses radioactive isotopes in a variety of ways. One of the more

common uses is as a tracer in which a radioisotope, such as technetium-99m, is taken
orally or is injected or is inhaled into the body. The radioisotope then circulates through
the body or is taken up only by certain tissues. Its distribution can be tracked according
to the radiation it gives off. The emitted radiation can be captured by various imaging
techniques, such as single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) or positron
emission tomography (PET), depending on the radioisotope used. Through such
imaging, physicians are able to examine blood flow to specific organs and assess organ
function or bone growth. Radioisotopes typically have short half-lives and typically
decay before their emitted radioactivity can cause damage to the patient’s body.
Therapeutic applications of radioisotopes typically are intended to destroy the targeted
cells. This approach forms the basis of radiotherapy, which is commonly used to
treat cancer and other conditions involving abnormal tissue growth, such
as hyperthyroidism. In radiation therapy for cancer, the patient’s tumor is bombarded
with ionizing radiation, typically in the form of beams of subatomic particles, such as
protons, neutrons, or alpha or beta particles, which directly disrupt the atomic or
molecular structure of the targeted tissue. Ionizing radiation introduces breaks in the
double-stranded DNA molecule, causing the cancer cells to die and thereby preventing
their replication. While radiotherapy is associated with unpleasant side effects, it
generally is effective in slowing cancer progression or, in some cases, even prompting
the regression of malignant disease. The use of radioisotopes in the fields of nuclear
medicine and radiotherapy has advanced significantly since the discovery of artificial
radioisotopes in the first decades of the 1900s. Artificial radioisotopes are produced
from stable elements that are bombarded with neutrons. Following that discovery,
researchers began to investigate potential medical applications of artificial
radioisotopes, work that laid the foundation for nuclear medicine. Today diagnostic and
therapeutic procedures using radioactive isotopes are routine.

Nuclear medicine was developed in the 1950s by physicians with an endocrine

emphasis, initially using iodine-131 to diagnose and then treat thyroid disease. In recent
years specialists have also come from radiology, as dual PET/CT (positron emission
tomography with computerized tomography) procedures have become established,
increasing the role of accelerators in radioisotope production. However, the main
radioisotopes such as Tc-99m cannot effectively be produced without reactors. Nuclear
medicine uses radiation to provide diagnostic information about the functioning of a
person’s specific organs, or to treat them. Diagnostic procedures using radioisotopes
are now routine. Nuclear medicine is a medical specialty that involves the application of
radioactive substances in the diagnosis and treatment of a disease.

In nuclear medicine procedures, radionuclides are combined with other elements to

form chemical compounds. These radiopharmaceuticals, once administered to the
patient, can localize to specific organs or cellular receptors. This property of
radiopharmaceuticals allows nuclear medicine the ability to image the extent of a
disease process in the body. These images are based on cellular function and
physiology, rather than on physical changes in the tissue anatomy. Therefore, with
some diseases, nuclear medicine studies can identify medical problems at an earlier
stage than other diagnostic tests. radionuclide therapy can be used to treat conditions
such as hyperthyroidism, thyroid cancer, and blood disorders. The
radiopharmaceuticals used in nuclear medicine therapy emit ionizing radiation that
travels only a short distance. This thereby minimizes unwanted side effects and damage
to noninvolved organs or nearby structures. For this type of therapy, yttrium-90 and
iodine-131 are the most commonly used isotopes.

Radiotherapy can be used to treat some medical conditions, especially cancer, using
radiation to weaken or destroy particular targeted cells. Sterilization of medical
equipment is also an important use of radioisotopes. Radioisotope therapy is a
procedure in which a liquid form of radiation is administered internally through infusion
or injection. RIT's ultimate purpose is to treat cancerous cells with minimal damage to
the normal surrounding tissue. These therapies are not normally the first approach used
to fight a patient's cancer. Instead, they are more likely to be used after other therapies.
Initial radioisotope therapy is relatively brief, as many forms of the therapy are
administered via a series of injections or single infusions. These injections or infusions
can often be followed by a short period of radiation application, normally around one
week. While the amount of radiation in a patient's body following radioisotope therapy
will be higher than normal, those levels will recede with time, usually no more than a few
days. The most common side effect from radioisotope therapy is a feeling of tiredness
for a few weeks. Radioisotope therapy can treat a wide variety of cancers, including
bone metastases, brain cancer, thyroid cancer, bile duct cancer, liver cancer, and
neuroanatomy. Radioisotope therapy can also be useful as an adjuvant, or assisting,
therapy when combined with other forms of cancer therapy.

The mass variances in two atoms of the same elements is in the Nucleus .If the
chemical element has isotopes, each isotope has a specific and different atomic
Mass .Atoms of the same element that differ in their numbers of neutrons are called
isotopes. Different isotopes of an element generally have the same physical and
chemical properties because they have the same numbers of protons and electrons. As
its name implies, radioactivity is the act of emitting radiation spontaneously. This is done
by an atomic nucleus that, for some reason, is unstable; it "wants" to give up some
energy in order to shift to a more stable configuration. A stable isotope does not decay
and therefore, maintains a constant concentration on Earth. Unstable isotopes can
spontaneously undergo changes, transforming them into other isotopes of the same or
of different elements. Some isotopes used for diagnosis, treatment, and research.
Isotopes are atoms of the same element that have different atomic structures. Isotopes
of the same element have the same atomic number since they are different forms of the
same element. They differ from each other according to the number of neutrons they
have in their nuclei. The atomic mas of an element is determined by the sum of the
number of protons and the number of electrons. Therefore, the atomic masses of
isotopes are different from each other. Isotopes can be divided mainly into two groups
as stable isotopes and unstable isotopes. The main difference between stable and
unstable isotopes is that stable isotopes have stable nuclei whereas unstable isotopes
have unstable nuclei. Stable isotopes are atoms having stable nuclei. They are non-
radioactive due to the stability of their nuclei. Therefore, stable nuclei do not
emit radiation. A particular element can have more than one stable isotope. For some
elements such as Uranium, all isotopes are unstable. The two main facts that determine
the stability of nuclei are the ratio of protons to neutrons and the sum of protons and
neutrons. Some elements have only one stable isotope. These elements are
called monoisotopic. There are 26 known monoisotopic elements. Other elements
have more than one stable isotopes. While,. Unstable isotopes are atoms that have
unstable nuclei. These are radioactive isotopes. Therefore, they are also
called radioactive isotopes. Some elements such as Uranium has only radioactive
isotopes. Other elements have both stable and unstable isotopes. An unstable element
can be unstable due several reasons. The presence of a high number of neutrons
compared to the number of protons is one such reason. In this type of isotopes,
radioactive decay occurs in order to obtain a stable state. To calculate, Take the atomic
mass of each isotope and multiply by the fractional abundance of that isotope. Then add
them all together to get the average atomic mass.
MEDICIAL ISOTOPES USED IN TREATMENT FOR DISEASE

Ervin V. Alba Jr.

Pili National High School

Pili Camarines Sur

Adviser