2026-10-10T12:19:46Z https://api.figshare.com/v2/oai

oai:figshare.com:article/34037955 2026-10-01T03:36:02Z category_24520 item_type_7 month_year_10_2026

Introduction to Nuclear Medicine Saleh Ramezani (17846414) Nuclear medicine Nuclear Medicine Positron Emission Tomography SPECT Radioactive Decay <p dir="ltr"><b>Introduction to Nuclear Medicine</b> is an educational presentation that provides a broad overview of the history, physics, instrumentation, and clinical applications of nuclear medicine. It begins with the scientific discoveries that led to modern nuclear imaging, including X-rays, radioactivity, atomic structure, radioactive tracers, cyclotrons, nuclear reactors, and the eventual development of gamma cameras, SPECT, and PET.</p><p dir="ltr">The presentation introduces the fundamentals of radioactive decay, half-life, radioactive decay processes, and radiation units, with particular attention to beta-minus decay, positron emission, and gamma emission. It also explains commonly used radionuclides and their clinical applications, including iodine-131, technetium-99m, fluorine-18, gallium-68, and lutetium-177. Additional topics include radiation detection with Geiger-Müller counters and the design and function of radiopharmaceuticals.</p><p dir="ltr">The second half focuses on nuclear medicine imaging systems and their clinical use. It explains how gamma cameras detect radiopharmaceutical distributions, how SPECT reconstructs three-dimensional functional images from multiple projections, and how PET detects coincident 511-keV photons produced by positron-electron annihilation. Concepts such as true, scatter, and random coincidences and time-of-flight PET are also introduced. Clinical examples demonstrate the use of SPECT/CT and PET in thyroid cancer, bone imaging, brain tumors, detection of lesions not apparent on conventional imaging, and treatment-response assessment. Overall, the presentation emphasizes how nuclear medicine complements anatomic imaging by providing highly sensitive information about tissue function, metabolism, and molecular processes.</p> 2026-10-01T03:36:02Z Text Presentation 10.6084/m9.figshare.34037955.v1 https://figshare.com/articles/presentation/Introduction_to_Nuclear_Medicine/34037955 CC BY 4.0