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Nuclear Medicine
Isotope Production
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<h2>Treatment of Patients</h2> <p>Some nuclear medicines emit radiation that can be used to destroy unwanted cells such as tumours. The radioactive material is continuously emitting gamma radiation. Gamma radiation is similar to ultra-violet light but is more eneregetic. In the same way that ultra-violet light can harm living tissue, gamma rays can destroy cells. A radiotherapy machine holds a piece of radioactive material within a shielded container. When a window is opened in the container, gamma radiation shines out. To treat a patient, the machine is set up to direct a narrow beam of gamma rays onto a cancer.</p> <p>Radium was in therapeutic use in the forties, irradiating tumours to kill cancerous tissue. It was recognized in theory that cobalt-60 would be better for this application than radium. Until the NRX reactor at Chalk River became operational however, there was no reactor in the world with high enough neutron power to produce cobalt-60. In 1951 Canadian cancer clinics in Saskatchewan and Ontario became the first in the world to use a cobalt source to treat cancer, using cobalt produced in the old NRX reactor. NRU is now the biggest producer of high activity cobalt-60 in the world. Radiation therapy machines using cobalt-60 from NRU, are used to treat cancer in 16 million people in more than 80 countries.</p> <p>Recent developments in the use of medical isotopes are drug molecules that include a radioactive atom as part of their structure. A drug can be designed to concentrate in a specific part of the body or a certain type of tissue. In that way the energy from the decay of the radioactive atoms is all centred in the place where the drug accumulates. This technique can be used to target a tumour without the need for surgery.</p>
