Nuclear medicine versus other imaging modalities

Nuclear medicine differs in many ways from other imaging modalities although the display and the hard copies may resemble each other. Basically the nuclear images are formed by the functions of the organs and hence the scans or images give the functional status of the organ at the time of taking the image. Sometimes, there is misconception that nuclear medicine is a costly procedure in comparison to other techniques like ultrasound, computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and does not add much to diagnostic information. As a matter of fact, nuclear medicine procedures, although basically meant for assessment of function, give in many cases both morphological and functional information in one examination. The procedures are simple, non-invasive and mostly do not need any specia preparation of the patient. There can be repeated at any time even if the patient is very sick. Since the radiation exposure is in most cases much less than in similar radiological investigations, they are most suitable for pediatric patients. Following few paragraphs are intended to highlight the uniqueness of radioisotope techniques and their role in some specialties, for example, endocrinology, cardiology, gastroenterology and so on. (author)