Nuclear medicine is a specialized area of diagnosis and treatment
that uses the specific character of radioactive materials and
radiopharmaceuticals to evaluate organ structure and function.
In other words, nuclear medicine is one of the medical fields that
use radioisotopes as a tracer to obtain anatomical, functional and biological
information as well as to treat cancer (abnormalities), which leads development
of medical diagnostics. Also, that aims for molecular medicine applying biological
information of diseases to biomedical analysis.
1. The beginning of In-vivo Examination.
A.
Since August 1959, SNUH nuclear medicine
department has begun. (At that time, Dr. MUN-HO LEE studied thyroid uptake and
excrete rate in addition to treatment of hyperthyroidism.) On May 30th 1960,
SNUH nuclear department established supported by IAEA. After that, there has been
a tremendous development in SNUH nuclear medicine department in terms of
medical treatment last 50 years.
B.
The Tracer-lab scintiscanner
(dot scanner), introduced in 1961, was the first imaging device to use this
device for liver scan and thyroid scan using the first 198Au colloid.
C.
In 1964, a using an 131I
hippuran renogram and a spleen scan using 51Cr RBC was also initiated.
2. Recent
Trends of In-vivo Examination
A.
Recently, rapid progress has
been made, but with the development of new devices and radiopharmaceuticals,
new nuclear medicine tests are constantly being introduced. Nuclear medicine
therapy has also been widely studied, opening up a new field of treatment. Over
the last decade, nuclear medicine testing has developed so much that it is
becoming more and more important in clinical and research.
B.
Among the various tests likely
myocardial blood flow scan, cerebral blood flow scan, thyroid scan, bone scan,
kidney scan, lung scan and hepatobiliary scan are widely used. In addition, the
tests included digestive system, vascular system, tumor system, endocrine
system, immune system, etc. are getting increased for In-vivo examination.
