Biography
Consultant in Nuclear Medicine, Royal Liverpool University Hospital- 1998 onwards
-Honorary Professor: School of Health Sciences, Salford University- 2011 onwards
-Honorary Professor: Institute of Translational Medicine, University of Liverpool-2012 onwards
-President of British Nuclear Medicine Society 2016-2018
-Member, Administration of Radioactive Substances Advisory Committee, 2015 onwards
-Chairman of Joint Specialty Committee of royal College of Physicians of London, 2020 onwards
-Member, Ethics Committee of European Association of Nuclear Medicine, 2017 onwards
Abstract
Nuclear Medicine is the field of nuclear medicine involving the use of radioactive in medicine for patient benefit. The earliest use of radioactive isotopes in medicine was in the field of thyroid medicine, where scans were used to identify patterns of overactive thyroid glands and also for treatment of patients with differentiated thyroid cancers.
The next key innovation was the Gamma Camera and the use of technetium-99m based radiopharmaceuticals for investigating of bodily functions including heart function, kidney function and to look at the distribution of tumours that may have spread to bones. This enabled the more accurate staging of a wider range of cancers and also to assess patients at risk of heart related problems.
Over time, a wider range of radiopharmaceuticals looking at a wider range of functions in the body were identified, and this remains the mainstay of most nuclear medicine departments worldwide.
A key jump in technology happened at the turn of the century, with the invention of PET ( positron emission tomography) scanners. These enabled a more accurate staging of a wider range of tumours and also the image quality was vastly improved with the advent of hybrid PET-CT scanners which rely on supply of short lived radioisotopes from cyclotrons.
With the more accurate staging of a wider range of scanners, there has been a demand for an improvement in treatment options. The term Theranostics has been widely used more recently. This relies on a good quality diagnostic test leading to a high quality therapeutic agent. Therapeutic agents may emit beta or alpha rays, while gamma rays are used for capture of a good quality image.