Nuclear Medicine The concepts and any information regarding the operating procedures described, handling and use of radiopharmaceuticals, drugs and products present in the late entries have only illustrative and informative and do not allow yourself to acquire the manual skills and experience necessary for their use or their practice.
THE ATOM
Overview:
In contrast to radiological images, which are obtained using the attenuation of the beam of X-rays by the tissues interposed between the equipment that produced them and the system of detection, medical and nuclear images are obtained means of detecting radiation emitted by radiopharmaceuticals distributed in the body. E 'then the patient that emits gamma radiation or X that are recorded by special equipment (gamma-cameras, PET) to recreate the picture. From the term "scintillation", which defines the physical phenomenon exploited by such devices are called the images "scintigraphy.
The various nuclear medicine techniques provide for the administration to patients of a radiopharmaceutical (radionuclide + a molecule), suitably chosen in such a way that focuses on the organ under study or in order to follow over time particular biological function
The distribution of the radiopharmaceutical in the body depends on the chemical and physical constitution of the same, the route of administration, the ability to cross biological barriers, metabolic conditions of the patient.
The scintigraphic images express the spatial-temporal or spatial distribution of the radiopharmaceutical. Information obtained can be expressed in the form of numerical parameters, allowing you to get order data quantitativo.La peculiarities of these images is, therefore, to be "functional", ie the morphological expression of a vital function.
The nuclear medical methods and have had a major role in BIOMEDICA.Di SEARCH particular interest in this regard are the new opportunities provided by positron emission tomography (PET) that can use the same molecules that normally come in tissue metabolism, such as glucose, carbon, oxygen and nitrogen. The use of radionuclide stations
positrons (positive electrons), as Carbon-11, Nitrogen-13, oxygen-15, fluorine-18 can mark the biological molecules by replacing one or more stable isotopes by their radioactive isotope, with the advantage of not changing in any way other physical and chemical characteristics, thus maintaining unchanged the biodistribution and function.
The
Nuclear Medicine is a specialized medical discipline that exerts its activity with the purpose of
diagnosis and therapy
(or research) as the type of unsealed radioactive substance used and the
dose of ionizing radiation administered. The dose
then
administered to the patient and these also becomes a source of radioactivity. The radioactivity is taken up by special external devices to the patient that reproduce the image of the examined organ. There is a fundamental difference, therefore, with radiology, in fact, this patient is crossed by the ionizing radiation produced by external devices to it. Normally, to examine a particular organ or system is necessary to tie
ionizing radiation to a chemical called radiopharmaceutical
. The higher or lower concentration of the radiopharmaceutical in 'organ or system to be tested shows normal function or altered. Nuclear Medicine provides information
so eminently functional
of a particular organ or system considered. As opposed to radiology, where the information is mostly morphological. Nuclear Medicine is required the active participation of the body, can be done because the radiograph of a corpse, but not a scan.
Diagnosis
Radiation yo + b for diagnosis, namely the display of anatomical structures and tissues that allows you to highlight any abnormal morphological or functional. A very important example is the issuer of radioisotope gamma 99m Tc is widely used in the most common diagnostic tests, a known positron emitter fluorine-18 instead, artificial radioisotope underlying the operation mechanism of the PET.
Therapy
Radiation b - for therapy. An example of particular interest is that of
Re-186/188, beta-gamma emitter, if linked to specific antibodies or other substances for receptor activity, it can allow both on-site treatment of tumors that biodistribution studies. Depending on the location of the radiotracer imaging in vivo using, you can also study the genotoxic damage in specific body areas, such as the marrow.
Another possibility for the application of radio-based Re-188 on treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.
Radionuclides Information diagnostic or therapeutic effect is related
use of radionuclides:
- in chemical form very simple: for example, the cation 210 TI + is retained by the myocardial cells as analogue of potassium and allows you to highlight ischemic phenomena, radioactive isotopes of iodine in the form of iodide, are located in the thyroid and are used as tracers in the synthesis of thyroid hormones.
- incorporated into compounds more or less complex through a series of special chemical manipulations. This applies to most of the radioactive elements used in Nuclear Medicine. The synthesis techniques used allow to obtain stable and compatible with biological systems in which the body are injected.
The radionuclide used to excellence is the technetium-99m, which emits gamma radiation with energy of 140 keV (optimal for gamma camera ) and has a 'half-life about 6 hours, consistent with the duration of the tests but still short enough to allow irradiation of a limited patient population. The 99mTc is produced through a 99Mo-99mTc generator that ensures optimum availability.
Other gamma-emitting radionuclides are used less often:
Radionuclides beta + channels, to study with the PET method are:
They fell in a relatively very short and need, for their production, a machine called a cyclotron .
The ionizing radiation emitted can be formed by alpha particles (helium nuclei), beta negative particles (electrons) or positive (positrons), or gamma radiation, often a combination of several of these components. This decay occurs according to a general law (of exponential type, statistically random) and I determining the half life or half-life physics, ie the time necessary because the radioactivity contained in a certain amount of radioisotope is reduced to half the initial value.
The half-life (which can vary from a few seconds to several minutes, hours, or many years) is a constant characteristic for each specific radioisotope (which is the distribution emission spectrum for that isotope.) Another fundamental property of radioisotopes is that the chemical reactivity of these elements is identical to that of the corresponding stable elements. The chemical reactivity is characteristic of each element is in fact linked to the outer shape of the orbit e (which determines the value of each chemical element), the isotope that identical (the only change concerns the core) must be to the stable. What distinguishes a radioisotope from the corresponding element is only native is the only nuclear instability and therefore the emission of radioactivity, it is this mission radioactive (or rather its extent from outside the body) which allows the execution of medical examinations nuclear, while biological systems (cells, tissues, organs) are not able to recognize the radioisotope stable as the element other than the native (as is the case for a stable isotope mass).
Therefore, to determine the distribution in the body of a radioactive substance is equivalent to determine the distribution of the corresponding non-radioactive substance. Ionizing radiation of alpha and beta are generally negative taken up almost entirely of biological structures of small thickness (few microns or a few millimeters at most), the radioisotopes that emit primarily this type of ionizing radiation are therefore not generally used for nuclear medical diagnostic applications, which are rule-based detection outside the body of the distribution of radiopharmaceuticals within the living organism. For in vivo diagnostic purposes, is then used radioisotopes that emit gamma radiation of energy mainly suitable for the measurement of them from outside by nuclear medical instruments most commonly used, ie ranges rooms.
Among the gamma-emitting radioisotopes are preferred those with minimal emissions corpuscular alpha or beta, with a potential therapeutic effect is concentrated selectively neoplastic lesions, but which have a load radiobiological not justified in the case of diagnostic applications. In addition, the radioisotopes are preferred range issuers with a short half-life, so that doses can be sufficient to allow detection from the outside with a statistically satisfactory, but without result, while significant radiobiological risks for all patients' diagnostic test.
Radiopharmaceuticals A fundamental concept that distinguishes the substance administered exams-nuclear (ie, radiopharmaceuticals) than to contrast media used in radiological investigations is that radiopharmaceuticals are administered in absolute terms (ie in terms of mass) is negligible, less often in nanomolar quantities. Collecting them from the outside is in fact based on the attenuation of a beam of X-rays (as in the radiological investigations), but simply on the issue on their part of radiation energy range suitable for the detection of the exterior. The biological systems studied so therefore do not suffer any "disturbance" metabolic, and unwanted side effects associated with administration of radiopharmaceuticals are considered exceptional. Radiopharmaceuticals can be constructed from simple molecular species (such as the radioisotope in the chemical form of sodium iodide), or very complex molecular species (such as immunoglobulin specific for a tumor-associated antigen, or receptor structures recognized by a messenger, etc.).. The radioiodine is probably the example most historically consolidated radioisotope used to prepare different radiopharmaceuticals.
fact, in the simple form of iodide ion (classically in the form of iodine-131 is currently in the atomic form of iodine-123, both are identical in terms of chemical Iodine-127 native this as an essential element in our diet), it is the ideal radiopharmaceuticals to assess morpho-functional body that normally use this element to its processes of hormone synthesis, namely the thyroid gland. However, the radioactive iodine can also be incorporated into more complex molecules such as, for example, ortho-iodoippuranico acid, a substance that normally undergoes a total excretion at the level of glomeruli and renal tubules. This substance is so marked with radioactive iodine and then a radiopharmaceutical that through evaluation of its renal clearance, allows to estimate the effective renal plasma flow. However, radioiodine can be marked even more complex molecules to proteins such as antibodies directed specifically against certain tumor-associated antigens expressed on the surface of tumor cells (allowing you to locate scintigraphically tumor lesions), and so on. The important concept is that the whole body distribution of a given radiopharmaceutical does not depend on the physical characteristics of the radioisotope used for its preparation (such as the physical half-life or the type of radioactive emission), but only on the chemical form of the same radiopharmaceutical. This concept explains why, despite the number of radioisotopes most commonly used for conventional nuclear medicine is relatively limited (ie, technetium-99m, iodine-131, iodine-123, Gallium-67, thallium-201, indium-111, and Xenon-133), the number of conventional radiopharmaceuticals actually available is much higher, ie more than 30.
From a general point of view, the various radiopharmaceuticals in the body behave differently, according to two basic types of distribution. In some cases, the indication provides a diagnostic radiopharmaceutical accumulating in high concentration in a diseased tissue, such as the aforementioned labeled antibody which accumulates in tumor lesions that express on their surface antigen tumor-associated dall'anticorpo recognized that represents the behavior of radiopharmaceuticals within the category of so-called "positive indicators" (the disease process is therefore scintigraphically identified as "hot area"). Some radiopharmaceuticals accumulate, however, physiologically normofunzionanti tissues, so the diagnostic indication is provided by their absent tank (or reservoir) in the portion of the body where healthy tissue is replaced by abnormal tissue, the example already cited that the radiopharmaceutical does not display an area of \u200b\u200bventricular myocardium (for perfusion defect caused by significant coronary stenosis) represents the behavior of radiopharmaceuticals within the category of so she called "negative indicators" (the disease process is identified as a "cold area").
radiolabelled These are then called radiopharmaceuticals
and, currently, according to Legislative Decree n.178 of 29/05/1991, are classified as medicinal products.
It is, in general, compounds labeled with radioactive isotopes for use in nuclear medicine and therefore prepared in a form suitable for use in vivo (in accordance with the regulations of the official pharmacopoeia). A radiopharmaceutical is thus characterized not only by the chemical structure and pharmaceutical form, which is also marked by the radionuclide, whose properties depend on not only the possibility of synthesis of the radiopharmaceutical and its stability, but also the efficiency of detection and radioesposizione to the patient.
Therefore, the ideal characteristics of a radionuclide for use in the preparation of a radiopharmaceutical can be considered as follows:
- monoenergetic emission of sun radiation energy range between 100 and 200 keV;
- short half-life;
- transformation into a stable nuclide;
- high activity specification;
- high purity radionuclides,
- readily available;
- low manufacturing cost,
- chemical properties that allow you to easily bind to molecules of biological interest.
Historically, the first radiopharmaceutical introduced into clinical practice was iodine-131 (131
I), used in the study of thyroid diseases. They were then gradually developed other radiopharmaceuticals, such as 131
I, however, had physical and radio-biological-optimal. This obligation to employ very small amounts, which could be obtained only poor images, or preclude entirely the possibility of obtaining them. The decisive impetus to the growth of nuclear medicine, which has helped the transformation from a branch of radiology self-discipline, came from the design of the first generator 99mTecnezio, built on the "Brookhaven Laboratory in New York in 1958 and introduced the use clinician in 1963.
Of all the proposed radionuclides, in fact, the Technetium-99m is what has properties more like those above, although, being a transition metal, and, moreover, not present in nature, does not come easily be part of the structure of biological molecules. Nevertheless, thanks to the knowledge on its chemical properties are ideal, today is by far the most used radionuclide in clinical practice.
Radiopharmaceuticals are administered directly to the patient, orally or intravenously.
These doses do not cause damage because the doses used are low and the radioisotopes used have very low toxicity and energy. In addition, nuclides have lifetimes media rather small and are generally present in the radiopharmaceutical inactive number of atoms that decrease the specific activity of the product (radioactivity per unit mass of the element, usually expressed in MBq or GBq / g).
The localization of the radiopharmaceutical after treatment in the patients with the information or the therapeutic effect derived from them are determined by the characteristics of the radiopharmaceutical as a whole:
- Physical and chemical characteristics: type emission of the radioisotope, charge, lipophilicity, size of the radioactive complex.
- Possible interactions with components biological (blood tissue, cells, membranes, enzymes, receptors).
Radionuclides used in nuclear medicine are produced artificially by
Accelaretori of charged particles :
Nuclear reactors
- with processes of neutron capture (n, gamma): 98 Mo (n, gamma) -> 99 Mo
- with fission (n, fission): 235 U (n, fission) -> 99 Mo
Generators The following table lists some of the main radioisotopes used in nuclear medicine and their applications prevalent:
radioisotope |
use |
Technetium 99m |
in vivo. It is used for skeletal scintigraphy, liver, kidney, brain, thyroid, liver function. Half-life: 6 hours. |
Fluoro 18 |
in vivo. Used for displaying scintigraphy in oncology, cardiology (cardiac metabolism, coronary blood flow, etc..) And neurological (Alzheimer's diagnosis, epilepsy, traumatic brain injury, etc.).. Half time: 110 min. |
Rhenium 188 |
in vivo. Used as a therapeutic agent in the treatment of cancer and arthritis and as a tracer is similar to 99m Tc. Half-life: 17 hours. |
Cobalt 60 |
in vivo. Used in radiotherapy for cancer. Half-life: 5 years. |
Iodine 131 |
in vivo. Used for diagnosis and treatment of thyroid cancer thyroid, renography and the so-called investigation totalbody . Half-life: 8 days. |
Thallium 201 |
in vivo. Need for myocardial scintigraphy. Half-life: 3 days. |
Iodine 125 |
in vitro. Handles all the analysis of radioimmunoassay for the determination of thyroid hormones. Half-life: 60 days. |