Sophie Holiday
ACMUI Program Manager
One
of the more interesting things to emerge from nuclear weapons
development was the use of radioisotopes in medicine. Before the end of
World War II, there wasn’t much in the way of peaceful uses for
radioisotopes. But in 1946, the Manhattan Project found a way to use its
weapons technologies for the common good. It used a reactor at Oak
Ridge to produce isotopes that could be distributed widely for research,
medicine and industrial uses.
The
Oak Ridge reactor offered a new family of isotopes created when uranium
atoms fission, or split apart. These “byproduct” materials have many
uses. It works like this: Radioisotopes give off energy that can be
detected as they move through the body, allowing them to be used as
“tracers.” This allows technicians to view different processes of the
body than can be seen on x-rays. In larger amounts, some isotopes can
also be used to target and destroy tumors.
Today,
about 17 million patients each year in the U.S. benefit from imaging
with radioisotopes or are involved in research, according to the Society
of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging. About 150,000 patients a
year undergo radionuclide therapy.
More
than half of the diagnostic procedures are cardiovascular studies. But
nuclear medicine patients may have cancer, diabetes, even Alzheimer’s
disease. Radioisotopes are also used for bone scans, to locate tumors,
to treat infections, and for studies of the liver, kidney, and lungs.
And new procedures are being developed all the time.
The
NRC’s job is to review uses of radioisotopes in medicine and determine
if they can be safe both for the patient and the medical personnel – as
well as the public. To ensure the NRC has access to the best available
information for our reviews, we rely on a committee of experts known as
the
Advisory Committee on the Medical Uses of Isotopes.
This
committee is made up of 13 health care professionals from several
disciplines, including nuclear medicine, nuclear cardiology, nuclear
pharmacy, medical physics, patients’ rights advocacy and health care
administration. There are also representatives from the Food and Drug
Administration and an NRC
Agreement State—a
state that has assumed regulatory authority over certain radioactive
materials used in their state. They are appointed by the Commission and
serve four-year terms. They meet twice and have three teleconferences
each year.
These
committee members advise the NRC on technical and policy issues related
to nuclear medicine. Last year, the committee provided advice on
changes needed to our regulations on medical isotopes and trends in a
relatively new therapy called Y-90 microsphere brachytherapy. This
therapy uses tiny beads containing radioactive material to target and
destroy liver tumors while preserving healthy tissue.
We recently
named three new members to fill open seats on the committee. For more information, see the committee’s
webpage.
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