Medical Procedures

1
Beneficial Uses of Radiation

• Medical Procedures
• Ionizing

• Medical Procedures
• Non-Ionizing

• X-Ray
• CT Scan (Computed Tomography)
• Nuclear Medicine

• Ultrasound
• MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging)

2
Beneficial Uses of Radiation

• - Because the element iodine accumulates in the
  thyroid, the radioisotope Iodine-131 can be used
  to diagnose thyroid problems.
• - As Iodine-131 atoms are absorbed by the
  thyroid, their nuclei decay, emitting beta
  particles and gamma rays.
• - The beta particles are absorbed by the
  surrounding tissues, but the gamma rays penetrate
  the skin.
• - The emitted gamma rays can be detected and used
  to determine whether the thyroid is healthy.

3
Beneficial Uses of Radiation

• Question
• What is required in order for a radioisotope to
  be useful as tracers in nuclear medicine?

4
Beneficial Uses of Radiation

• Answer
• A radioisotope must be important in body
  processes and accumulate in the organism being
  studied.

5
Beneficial Uses of Radiation
Museums and archeologists rely on radiation
detection to verify the authenticity or age of
art objects or archeological finds
6
Beneficial Uses of Radiation

• Radioactive Half-Life Radioactive Dating
• Half-lives vary widely among the radioactive
  isotopes.
• The half-lives of some radioactive elements are
  listed in the table.
• The ages of rocks and fossils can be determined
  using radioactive isotopes and their half-lives.

7
Beneficial Uses of Radiation

• Radioactive Half-Life
• Some radioisotopes decay to stable atoms in less
  than a second.
• A measure of the time required by the nuclei of
  an isotope to decay is called the half-life.