Abstract
The basic principle of nuclear medicine imaging is the administration to patients of radioactive tracers or radiopharmaceuticals that distribute in the body according to specific metabolic processes. This chapter discusses radioisotope physics and the preparation of radiopharmaceuticals, necessary for nuclear medicine imaging, and equipment and image formation in nuclear imaging – the gamma camera, single photon emission computed tomography, positron emission tomography and related forms of hybrid tomographic imaging. Radioactive tracers that can be used for nuclear medicine imaging are selected based on the metabolic behaviour and radioactive decay properties of the isotopes used to label them. Radioactive tracers suitable for labelling and use in nuclear medicine must simulate substances normally used by metabolic pathways in the human body. Energy and positional information from the emitted photons is collected and used to create an image or images characterising the radiopharmaceutical distribution inside the patient.
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