What is nuclear medicine?

Nuclear medicine uses radioactive substances to demonstrate physiologic and pathologic processes annd to treat dysfunctional tissues and tumors. Radiopharmaceuticals (tracers) are molecules or cells with particular physiologic properties that are labeled with radioactive substances called radionuclides. Radionuclides generally emit gamma radiation, which can be detected by a gamma camera system. The amount of radioactivity in an anatomic location or bodily fluid is used to create an image.