Links & Glossary
Nuclear Med. Glossary P-R
The Nuclear Medicine Glossary by Richard Zimmerman, IBA Letters P to R
positron emission tomography. Imaging modality based on the detection of the two gamma photons generated by a positron emitter.
imaging technology combining positron emission tomography and X-ray analysis.
dosage and procedures for administering a medicine.
total number of patients at a given time for a defined disease. It is an estimation of how common a disease is in a population.
a positively charged elementary particle, constituting the nucleus of the atom together with the neutron.
method of external radiotherapy using a proton beam.
a beam of invisible particles or waves emitted by a source. Also, it corresponds to the process of transmission of energy in corpuscular (α, β- particles, etc.) or electromagnetic form (visible light, ultraviolet, infrared, X, γ, etc.)
Radioactive half-life (or period):
time at the end of which half the atoms initially present in a radioactive element have disappeared through spontaneous transformation. This period (half-life) is different for each radionuclide, but is a precise physical constant for a given radionuclide and is influenced by neither temperature or pressure.
property of certain radionuclides which emit particles spontaneously (electrons, protons, neutrons, nuclei) and/or α-, β-, γ-, or X-rays.
a radioactive substance not intended for human use.
a chemist specializing in the manufacture of radioactive substances; therefore, in the field of nuclear medicine, a specialist in the development of labeling, and in the field of nuclear physics, a specialist in the chemistry of radionuclides.
chemistry of substances incorporating a radioactive element.
an element where all the isotopes are radioactive, e.g., those of the plutonium or uranium groups (term often used wrongly in the place of radionuclide or radioisotope).
an unstable isotope that decays over the course of time, emitting radiation (see Radionuclide).
specialist in X-ray imaging.
radioactive atomic nucleus. Two radionuclides compared with each other are called radioisotopes if they belong to the same family of atoms (e.g. the radioisotopes of iodine, such as iodine-123, -124, or -131) and radionuclides in other cases. The word in the plural, ‘radioisotopes,’ is frequently used wrongly to designate all radionuclides.
radioactive medication intended for diagnosis or therapy in the field of nuclear medicine.
a hospital pharmacist specializing in the labeling and handling of radiopharmaceutical preparations intended for administration to a patient.
a laboratory, principally located in a hospital, equipped to handle radioactive substances for injection into patients.
physician specializing in the handling and production of radionuclides.
physician specializing in treatment by external radiotherapy. If the radioactive substance has to be injected into a patient, this task is entrusted to the nuclear physician.
method of therapy (treatment of a disease) based on the use of radiation, of whatever sort (X-, α-, or β-rays, neutrons, etc.).