Cancer and other diseases are both deadly and scary. With today's emerging technologies we can better understand, and pin point these cancers. Using Molecular Imaging Technology scientists and doctors can see into a patient in an in vivo, or non invasive manner. There are many different ways this can be done.
The biggest benefit to these technologies is that they are all non-invasive. They do not have to open up a patient to see what they are getting into, instead with this technology they can see exactly where everything is. Giving surgeons an exact plan of what they need to do, and how they are going to do it.
Chances are that you have probably heard of an MRI. An MRI stands for "magnetic resonance imagining". As the name suggests, is uses magnets which is very adept at creating an functional and morphological image. This method can give a fully body scan, taking a look at the whole picture. If a more specific picture is required, other machines specialize at other parts of the body.
Next there is optical imaging, which essentially uses lights to map out the body. The main downside to this method is that it does not penetrate as deep as some of the others. However it does have the benefit of having little to no safety concerns. Some people may prefer this over the MRI, but it will not give as intense an image.
SPECT, or Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography emits gamma rays. This is an effective way to do an imaging of the brain. Essentially the gamma rays are moved and reflected back several times around the head until an effective map of the brain is formed. Gamma does not have to be used, but is most common in this technology as using the gamma camera is typically cheapest.
A PET scan, or a positron emission tomography is very similar to the SPECT. Typically a PET is more expensive because of the technology and radiation used, however they are also less potent making them have less safety concerns. Like cancer metastasis, this method also creates a three dimensional image which can be viewed and fully rotated from any angle.
These methods have their own various advantages and work better in specific areas over others. Developing new methods is a continued area of research. Unfortunately it can very difficult to target and identify exactly what you are looking for when developing the process. Scientists are continually trying to improve these methods, as it is an area of great interest and concern. For now at least we do have the means start to detect various cancers.
As you can see there are many different ways to go about using Molecular Imaging Technology. The benefits that this technology produces are astounding in the way it can help both patients and doctors. Each method varies slightly in what how it goes about imaging, but they all have the same goal which is to detect cancers, injuries, and diseases - to help mankind.
The biggest benefit to these technologies is that they are all non-invasive. They do not have to open up a patient to see what they are getting into, instead with this technology they can see exactly where everything is. Giving surgeons an exact plan of what they need to do, and how they are going to do it.
Chances are that you have probably heard of an MRI. An MRI stands for "magnetic resonance imagining". As the name suggests, is uses magnets which is very adept at creating an functional and morphological image. This method can give a fully body scan, taking a look at the whole picture. If a more specific picture is required, other machines specialize at other parts of the body.
Next there is optical imaging, which essentially uses lights to map out the body. The main downside to this method is that it does not penetrate as deep as some of the others. However it does have the benefit of having little to no safety concerns. Some people may prefer this over the MRI, but it will not give as intense an image.
SPECT, or Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography emits gamma rays. This is an effective way to do an imaging of the brain. Essentially the gamma rays are moved and reflected back several times around the head until an effective map of the brain is formed. Gamma does not have to be used, but is most common in this technology as using the gamma camera is typically cheapest.
A PET scan, or a positron emission tomography is very similar to the SPECT. Typically a PET is more expensive because of the technology and radiation used, however they are also less potent making them have less safety concerns. Like cancer metastasis, this method also creates a three dimensional image which can be viewed and fully rotated from any angle.
These methods have their own various advantages and work better in specific areas over others. Developing new methods is a continued area of research. Unfortunately it can very difficult to target and identify exactly what you are looking for when developing the process. Scientists are continually trying to improve these methods, as it is an area of great interest and concern. For now at least we do have the means start to detect various cancers.
As you can see there are many different ways to go about using Molecular Imaging Technology. The benefits that this technology produces are astounding in the way it can help both patients and doctors. Each method varies slightly in what how it goes about imaging, but they all have the same goal which is to detect cancers, injuries, and diseases - to help mankind.
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