A medical isotope is an
isotope used in
medicine.
The first uses of isotopes in medicine were in
radiopharmaceuticals, and this is still the most common use. However more recently,
separated stable isotopes have also come into use.
Examples of non-radioactive medical isotopes are:
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Deuterium in
deuterated drug
A deuterated drug is a small molecule medicinal product in which one or more of the hydrogen atoms contained in the drug molecule have been replaced by its heavier stable isotope deuterium. Because of the kinetic isotope effect, deuterium-containin ...
s
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Carbon-13 used in
liver function and
metabolic test
''In vitro'' (meaning in glass, or ''in the glass'') studies are performed with microorganisms, cells, or biological molecules outside their normal biological context. Colloquially called " test-tube experiments", these studies in biology a ...
s
Radioactive isotopes used
Radioactive isotopes are used in medicine for both treatment and diagnostic scans. The most common isotope used in diagnostic scans is
Tc-99m
Technetium-99m (99mTc) is a metastable nuclear isomer of technetium-99 (itself an isotope of technetium), symbolized as 99mTc, that is used in tens of millions of medical diagnostic procedures annually, making it the most commonly used medical r ...
(Technetium-99m), being used in approximately 85% of all nuclear medicine diagnostic scans worldwide. It is used for diagnoses involving a large range of body parts and diseases such as cancers and neurological problems. Another well-known radioactive isotope used in medicine is
I-131
Iodine-131 (131I, I-131) is an important radioisotope of iodine discovered by Glenn Seaborg and John Livingood in 1938 at the University of California, Berkeley. It has a radioactive decay half-life of about eight days. It is associated with nu ...
(Iodine-131), which is used as a radioactive label for some radiopharmaceutical therapies or for the treatment of some types of thyroid cancer.
References
External links
Radionuclide production simulator – IAEA
Medical isotopes
Medicinal radiochemistry
Chemicals in medicine
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