Advances in nuclear medicine could improve healthcare, particularly in treatments tailored to a person's individual genetic makeup, according to a new report by the National Research Council (NRC) and the Institute of Medicine (IOM).
Nuclear medicine technology has grown dramatically over the past 50 years; now almost 20 million nuclear medicine procedures are performed every year in the U.S. The modality has contributed to biomedical research and disease management, but its potential has only begun to be tapped in areas such as drug development, preventive healthcare, and personalized medicine.
Aging facilities and equipment impede this potential, however, as does a shortage of trained nuclear medicine scientists and the loss of federal research support. The NRC calls for the government to commit to research in nuclear medicine, including improving radionuclide availability and training more nuclear medicine scientists.
By AuntMinnie.com staff writers
September 21, 2007
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