discovered_01_2015 - 20 Year of Cancer Diagnostics

discovered 01 .15 RESEARCH WWW.HZDR.DE In 1995, the first patient was examined in Dresden-Rossendorf using the then novel method of positron emission tomography (PET). Twenty years later, Jörg Steinbach, one of the two directors of the HZDR Institute of Radiopharmaceutical Cancer Research, declares: ‘Mission accomplished! The method has become daily routine, still used on patients at Dresden University Hospital – and at the same time it will continue to be used as a basic research tool in the future.’ Today, as in the past, Helmholtz researchers are striving for greater precision in medical diagnostics, with a special focus on positron emission tomography. Depending on the diagnostic objective, this modern imaging technology involves injecting various radioactive tracers into the patients. Experts call these substances radiotracers or radiopharmaceuticals. Labeled with short-lived radionuclides, the radiotracer concentrates in a certain, often pathologically altered tissue where it will decay after a short period of time, emitting characteristic radiation which can be captured by detectors on the outside. Powerful software then processes the data to create 3D-images. The PET images show the areas with higher concentrations of the radiopharmaceutical as well as information on its pharmacokinetic properties over time – an important additional parameter. The physician thus obtains detailed information about the location and size of tumors, for example, or about the status of brain functions. // The PET Center Dresden-Rossendorf did medical diagnostics for almost exactly twenty years. Yet this is not the end of an era. _TEXT . Christine Bohnet 20 YEARS OF CANCER DIAGNOSTICS INSIGHT: Positron emission tomography (PET) is a highly sensitive method of diagnosing cancer. Illustration: AIFilm

Seitenübersicht