Eary J.F., Brenner W. (eds.) Nuclear Medicine Therapy

Informa Healthcare USA, Inc., 2007. — 212 p. — ISBN: 0824728769.Therapy in nuclear medicine practice has a long distinguished history. To use today’s phraseology, it is one of modern medicine’s early “targeted therapies.” By its very nature, nuclear medicine therapy is required to be highly specific and targeted, since it always involves administration of unsealed sources of radioactivity. Since the development of peaceful uses of atomic energy after the second World War, patients with specific disease processes were among the earliest who benefited by these new uses. Standard beta emitting radioisotopes, such as P-32 and I-131, as well as radioisotopes of iron were used in new therapy procedures and seminal physiology studies. Since the 1960s many of these therapies are still in use because of their effectiveness, safety, and lack of competing treatments. Most therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals are available throughout the world and different radioactive sources can be devised for regions that are farther from production facilities or have specific frequencies in disease distributions. As these needs for effective therapies continue to evolve in different world regions, radioactive therapies continue to be cost-effective and adaptable. Perhaps most exciting is the vigorous research and development in new therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals that has been ongoing over the past 20 years.Principles of Therapy with Unsealed Sources.
Therapeutic Radioisotopes.
Radionuclide Joint Therapy.
Treatment of Differentiated Thyroid Carcinoma.
Palliation of Bone Pain from Osteoblastic Metastases.
224RaCl Therapy for Treatment of Ankylosing Spondylitis.
Radioimmunotherapy of Solid Tumors.
Radioimmunotherapy of Lymphomas.
Polycythemia Vera and Therapy with Phosphorus-32.
Iodine-131 Radiotherapy for Benign Thyroid Diseas.