A 38-year-old member asked:
What are the differences between a radionuclide and a radiopharmaceutical in medical imaging?
2 doctor answers • 3 doctors weighed in
Dr. Douglas Bourgonanswered
Radiology 24 years experience
Nothing significant: These two term are often used interchangeably for the agent injected to create Nuclear Medicine scan images.
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
2.8k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
Dr. Saptarshi Bandyopadhyayanswered
Hospital-based practice 23 years experience
Semantics. Chemical.: A radiopharmaceutical (RP) is any chemical (drug) tagged w/ a radioactive atom or substance. Often times the radioactive atom is "attached" to the chemical after it's made (tag). A Radionuclide (RN), in contrast, is attached to the chemical *as* it's made, so strictly speaking, it's part of the compound (which is why radionuclides r often used in PET scans). All RNs r RPs, but not all RPs are RNs.
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
2.3k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
Last updated Jan 11, 2018
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