History of Nuclear Medicine

[Guest guest]

More than you wanted to know, from the Society of Nuclear Medicine ...

The History Of Nuclear Medicine

Nuclear medicine has a complex and multifaceted heritage. Its

origins stem from many scientific discoveries, most notably the discovery of

x-rays in 1895 and the discovery of

" artificial radioactivity " in 1934. The first clinical use of " artificial

radioactivity " was carried out in 1937 for the treatment of a patient with

leukemia at the University of California at

Berkeley.

A landmark event for nuclear medicine occurred in 1946 when a

thyroid cancer patient's treatment with radioactive iodine caused complete

disappearance of the spread of the

patient's cancer. This has been considered by some as the true beginning of

nuclear medicine. Wide-spread clinical use of nuclear medicine, however, did not

start until the early 1950s.

The value of radioactive iodine became apparent as its use

increased to measure the function of the thyroid and to diagnose thyroid

disease. Simultaneously, more and more

physicians begin to use " nuclear medicine " for the treatment of patients with

hyperthyroidism. The concept of nuclear medicine was a dramatic breakthrough for

diagnostic medicine. Moreover, the

ability to treat a disease with radiopharmaceuticals and to record and make a

" picture " of the form and structure of an organ was invaluable.

In the mid-sixties and the years that followed, the growth of

nuclear medicine as a specialty discipline was phenomenal. The advances in

nuclear medicine technology and instrument

manufacturers were critical to this development.

The 1970s brought the visualization of most other organs of the

body with nuclear medicine, including liver and spleen scanning, brain tumor

localization, and studies of the

gastrointestinal track.

The 1980s provided the use of radiopharmaceuticals for such

critical diagnoses as heart disease and the development of cutting-edge nuclear

medicine cameras and computers. Today,

there are nearly 100 different nuclear medicine procedures that uniquely provide

information about virtually every major organ system within the body. Nuclear

medicine is an integral part of

patient care, and an important diagnostic and therapeutic specialty in the

armamentarium of medical science.

Important Dates in the History of Nuclear Medicine

1896 Henri Becquerel discovered mysterious " rays " from uranium.

1897 Marie Curie named the mysterious rays " radioactivity. "

1901 Henri andre Danlos and Eugene Bloch placed radium

in contact with a tuberculous skin lesion.

1903 Graham Bell suggested placing sources containing radium

in or near tumors.

1913 Frederick Proescher published the first study on the intravenous

injection of radium for therapy of various diseases.

1924 Georg de Hevesy, J.A. Christiansen and Sven Lomholt performed

the first radiotracer (lead-210 and bismuth-210) studies in

animals.

1932 Ernest O. Lawrence and M. Stanley Livingston published the first

article

on " the production of high speed light ions without the

use of high voltages. "

It was a milestone in the production of usable quantities

of radionuclides.

1936 H. Lawrence, the brother of Ernest, made the first clinical

therapeutic

application of an artificial radionuclide when he used

phosphorus-32 to treat

leukemia.

1937 Livingood, Fred Fairbrother and Glenn Seaborg discovered

iron-59.

1938 Livingood and Glenn Seaborg discovered iodine-131 and

cobalt-60.

1939 Emilio Segre and Glenn Seaborg discovered technetium-99m.

1940 The Rockefeller Foundation funded the first cyclotron dedicated

for

biomedical radioisotope production at Washington University in

St. Louis.

1946 M. Seidlin, Leo D. Marinelli and Eleanor Oshry treated a

patient with

thyroid cancer with iodine-131, an " atomic cocktail. "

1947 Benedict Cassen used radioiodine to determine whether a thyroid

nodule

accumulates iodine, helping to differentiate benign from

malignant nodules.

1948 Abbott Laboratories began distribution of radioistopes.

1950 K.R. Crispell and P. Storaasli used iodine-131 labeled human

serum

albumin (RISA) for imaging the blood pool within the heart.

1951 The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved sodium iodide

1-131

for use with thyroid patients. It was the first FDA-approved

radiopharmaceutical.

1953 Gordon Brownell and H.H. Sweet built a positron detector based on

the detection

of annihilation photons by means of coincidence counting.

1954 Kuhl invented a photorecording system for radionuclide

scanning.

This development moved nuclear medicine further in the

direction of radiology.

1955 Rex Huff measured the cardiac output in man using iodine-131 human

serum albumin.

1958 Hal Anger invented the " scintillation camera, " an imaging device

that made it

possible to conduct dynamic studies.

1960 Louis G. Stang, Jr., and (Jim) s advertised

technetium-99m

and other generators for sale by Brookhaven National

Laboratory.

Technetium-99m had not yet been used in nuclear medicine.

1962 Kuhl introduced emission reconstruction tomography. This

method

later became known as SPECT and PET. It was extended in

radiology to

transmission X-ray scanning, known as CT.

1963 The FDA exempted the " new drug " requirements for

radiopharmaceuticals

regulated by the Atomic Energy Commission. Henry Wagner first

used

radiolabeled albumin aggregates for imaging lung perfusion in

normal persons

and patients with pulmonary embolism.

1969 C.L. reported the accumulation of gallium-67 in cancer.

1970 The FDA announced that it would gradually withdraw the exemption

granted

to radiopharmaceuticals and start regulating them as drugs.

The change would be completed by Jan. 20, 1977.

1971 The American Medical Association officially recognized nuclear

medicine

as a medical speciality.

1973 H. Strauss introduced the exercise stress-test myocardial

scan.

1976 Keyes developed the first general purpose single photo

emission computed

tomography (SPECT) camera. Jaszczak developed the first

dedicated

head SPECT camera.

1978 Goldenberg used radiolabeled antibodies to image tumors in

humans.

1981 J.P. Mach used radiolabeled monoclonal antibodies for tumor

imaging.

1982 Steve Larson and Jeff Carrasquillo treated cancer patients with

malignant

melanoma using iodine-131 labeled monoclonal antibodies.

1989 The FDA approved the first positron radiopharmaceutical

(rubidium-82)

for myocardial perfusion imaging.

1992 The FDA approved the first monoclonal antibody radiopharmaceutical

for tumor imaging.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\

--------------------------

Gail Gundling wrote:

> Dave,

> Your mom was mislead. All those tests were in existance 40 years ago.

> I believe RAI has been around since he 1930's.

>

> Gail

> dx: 1968, TT,pap. & foll. well differentiated, RAI,

> rad.neck dissection,lung surgery,hashimoto,iodine

> resistant,existing thyca nodules in lungs.

> Last surgery 1972

>

>

>

> > Charlene -

> >

> > I vaguely remember my mom's TT as I was 4 years old. She said then there

> > was no such thing as RAI, etc. Just the operation, wait till hypo

> > started, and then use body weight and mild hyper symptoms to get the T4

> > 'correct'. No measuring free T4 and TSH because they couldn't 40 years ago.

> >

> > She keeps with the endo for followup's, but has never had any type of

> > scan that I know of.

> >

> > Dave