What are the various uses of radioactivity in healthcare? What are the future trends in healthcare with respect to the use of radioactivity?

Question

anonymous · Answer

Hi Unioncity

There are a lot of uses for radioctivity in healthcare, probably more than we realize! Supposedly1/3 of all patients admitted to hospitals are diagnosed or treated using radiation or radioactive materials, and radiation is commonly used to sterilize equipment, as far as I know. A friend of mine had to undergo a procedure called the Gamma Knife, basically an intensely focused beam of Cobalt, in order to treat her cancer. In other cases, radioactive materials are injected directly into a patient, such as with the use of radioactive Iodine to treat thyroid problems, which my boss had done a few years back.

Maybe someone in the health careers can give you more specifics about trends.