The impact of nuclear science on medicine

✍ Scribed by G. Kraft

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 745 KB
• Volume: 654
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0375-9474
• DOI: 10.1016/s0375-9474(00)88599-1

✦ Synopsis

From the very beginning, i.e. from the discovery of the natural radioactivity by H. Becquerel and the production of radium by M. Curie, nuclear physics had a strong impact on medicine: Radioactive sources were immediately made use of in tumor therapy long before the action mechanisms of ionizing radiation were understoood. The invention of the tracer technique by G. Hevesy opened a new field for the study of chemokinetics as well as for the in-vivo measurement of various organ functions. In the percutane tumor therapy hadrons like neutrons, pions, protons and heavier ions were tested. Presently, proton therapy is a great success and is spreading all over the world. The new techniques of target-conform treatment using heavy ions for an improved tumor targeting and control represent the latest great improvement of radiation tumor therapy.