Medical Uses

Bone imaging is an extremely important use of radioactive properties. Supposed a runner is experiencing severe pain in both shins. The doctor decides to check to see if either tibia has a stress fracture. The runner is given an injection containing 99Tcm. This radioisotope is a gamma ray producer with a half-life of 6 hours.

After a several hour wait, the patient undergoes bone imaging. At this point, any area of the body that is undergoing unusually high bone growth will show up as a stronger image on the screen. Therefore if the runner has a stress fracture, it will show up on the bone imaging scan.

This technique is also good for arthritic patients, bone abnormalities and various other diagnostics.

Still need to describe mechanism!!