Reflection on Imaging Technologies - Essay Example

Topic: Reflection on Imaging Technologies Name: Student Registration No.: Institution Name: Tutor’s Name: Date of Submission: Introduction During my internship, I learnt about a number of imaging technologies such as nuclear medicines, Magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography. Since my area of competence is in the field of nuclear knowledge, I gained knowledge in many areas of nuclear medicine. This study was significant because I gained exposure into practical use of a number of imaging techniques and got a grasp of the ideas that are applicable during their use. This paper presents a reflection of my experience at during the internship in understanding nuclear medicine. It provides the experiences I went through in terms of the role of nuclear medicine in diagnostic process, how I can apply the principles of nuclear medicines in participation in a workplace, aspects of ordinary examination within the subject matter and an analysis of future directions in the use of nuclear medicines in the medical field. 1. Reflection on the role of Nuclear medicines in diagnostic process During my internship, I learnt that there are a number of diagnostic procedures that applies nuclear medicine as a method of diagnosis. An example of a diagnostic process that uses the principle of nuclear medicine is the kidney scan procedure. For instance, they are used to conduct renal scans to determine the state of delivery of fluids through the kidneys and the manner in which waste products are concentrated in the kidneys and finally eliminated from the kidneys into the bladder. I also learnt about the use of substances such as DTPA and MAG3 for assistance in obtaining high quality images of the diagnosed regions of the body. However, I learnt that the use of MAG3 is more preferred in place of DTPA when young children are involved in the diagnosis process for malfunctions of the kidney diagnosis. I also learnt that nuclear medicine can be applied during the process of assessing the condition of a patient following a renal transplant and ensures the progress of recovery of the patient is assessed and the functionality of the kidney is determined. In DTPA scan, I learn that it is a process that can be carried out to determine the function and perfusion of the renal tubules. I also learnt that this is a process which enables an understanding of endovascular hypertension such as blood pressure. In addition, I learnt that DTPA procedure plays a role in checking renal artery stenosis and enables determination whether there is a constriction in arteries that carry blood to the heart. 2. Reflection on how the principles of Nuclear medicine can be applied in workplace There are many areas of application of nuclear medicine that I learnt about during my internship period. An example of such application is in detection of the presence of stones in the kidneys, assessment of defects in the bone structure and detection of problems in the ureters and the bladder. I also learnt that the principles of nuclear medicine can be applied in detection of major infections in the urinary systems by showing images of areas that have blood clots or other anomalies within the renal system. I learnt about various areas of workplace where nuclear medicine can be used. An example of such an area is bone scintigrapghy where the process is used to scan bones of the body to establish any defects in the bone metabolism. Other significant areas of application of the principles of nuclear medicine include scanning of the heart to visualize the flow of blood and detect diseases relating to the heart and the level of coronary stenosis, detection of heart transplant rejection and evaluation of functions of the heart before and after chemotherapy. In addition, I learnt about the use of the principle of nuclear medicine in scanning the lungs to determine if there are any respiratory and blood flow problems, assessment of functions of the lungs and detection of lung transplant rejection. Furthermore, I learnt that the principle of nuclear medicine can be applied in investigation of brain abnormalities that includes seizures, loss of memory and disruptions of the flow of blood. Other areas of application of the nuclear medicine principle that I learnt during the internship include identification of abnormal functions of the gallbladder, identification of bleeding in the bowel, measurement of thyroid function for the purpose of detecting over reactive and under reactive thyroid. In children and adults, I learnt that the process of nuclear medicine can be used to determine the presence and spread of cancer on various parts of the body, localization of sentinel lymph nodes prior to performance of surgery in patients suffering from breast cancer or soft skin tissue tumors. Other functions of the process with regards to cancer that I learnt include detection of occurrence of cancer and detection of rare tumors such as in the pancreases and adrenal cells. I also learnt that the principle of nuclear medicine can be used during investigation of abnormalities in the esophagus that includes esophageal reflux, evaluation of openness of the tear ducts and ventricular shunts as well as assessment of congenital heart complications for shunts and pulmonary blood flows. 3. Reflection on various ordinary examination measures that exist within the subject matter During the internship I learnt that an example of an area where clinical medicine is applied is during the DTPA scan. I learnt that the process involved in this scan includes making the patient lie down and stay calm to ensure blurred images are not obtained. When the process has been completed, the images are interpreted and given the patient and the doctor for specification and determination whether they the patient is suffering from a bad kidney problem or not. Another example of examination that exists with nuclear medicines is bone examination. During the internship, I learnt about the application of bone examination procedures such as bone scan, preparation for a bone scan, the procedure for performing a bone scan, variations in bone scan tests, stages involved in performing bone scan tests, the length of time that an ordinary bone scan test should last, the risks associated with bone scan tests and how to interpret the results of bone scan tests. During the internship, I learnt that the first procedure to be performed is injection of radionuclides into the blood stream of the patient so that they can be distributed to the bone after which a gamma camera can be used to take pictures of the skeleton. I also learnt about how to interpret the results from the bone scan pictures so that the bone problem can be established. I also learnt that the tests could be carried out in either a single step or three steps. When the procedure is done in three steps, it involves taking the pictures when the radionuclides are injected into the blood streams, after injection and when the substances are detected in the bones. I also learnt that there are no serious risks associated with bone scan process in comparison with other imaging technologies such as CT. There are also a number of safety measures that need to be followed during the bone scan process. For instance, it is necessary to remain calm during the scan so that the resulting pictures are not blurred. Another safety measure that must be considered is that if a patient is breastfeeding, it is required that breastfeeding is stopped 24 hours after the scan. These results of the scan can be used to understand bone metabolism such as analysis of dark and lighter spots. For instance, the dark spots where the tracers have accumulated indicate an abnormal bone structure and shows that the cells in that region have died. I also learnt that despite the effectiveness of the bone scans in determination of irregularities in bone metabolism, the results are not effective in establishment of the exact cause of bone abnormality, thus there is the need for future studies that tests bone abnormality. 4. Analysis of future direction in the field of nuclear medicines As has been illustrated in the above reflection, there are areas of Nuclear medicines that need further studies to ensure effectiveness in this process. An example of future study that should be conducted is an improvement in the bone scan process by determining other methods of performing the bone scan which ensure the exact cause of the bone abnormality can be established. This will result into establishment of measures of controlling these abnormalities such as treatment that should be used to treat the abnormality in the bone metabolism. Based on the trends in nuclear medicines in emerging markets, it is observed that a strategy for customizing initiatives for the purpose of meeting local needs, practice and growth is important. The existing elements of discordance between the requirements and the existing capacities do not provide the right capacities and equipment that enable accomplishment of the study and application of nuclear medicine. Thus, more attention should be placed on maximization of nuclear cardiology as well as trends of monitoring that are currently being used. Generally, there is the need to put more effort on commonly used areas of nuclear medicine by making efforts such as international cooperation to help in evolution of a strategy that result into improved use of nuclear medicine. There is also the need for standardization and Harmonization of nuclear imaging processes. There is a variation in aspects of nuclear imaging processes, at times across organizational and this has the potential to complicate or result into preclusion of meaningful assessment of clinical value and the potential of nuclear imaging medicine processes. For instance, there is usually a variation in the timing of image acquisition after administration of the radiotracer, handling of information and storage of information. Thus, it is necessary to create uniformity in the imaging procedures such as a universally accepted image derived methods of determining tissue functions within specific regions of the body. It may also be important to standardize imaging protocols, image formatting, handling of data, data storage in addition to image derive parameters to ensure effective design and performance of the multi-center clinical trials during drug evaluation and determination of effectiveness of the newly introduced imaging processes. Furthermore, there is the need to conduct studies in various ways in which nuclear medicine can be applied to treat a number of complications that are expensive to determine using other methods such as magnetic resonance imaging or tomography imaging. In addition, most studies do not explain how these tests result into prevention of osteomyelitis or joint replacements. It would be beneficial to the medical field if future studies are focused on determining the contribution of these tests in reduction of osteomyelitis or joint infections. References 1. Chandra R: Nuclear medicine physics: the basics, 7th ed. Philadelphia, Williams & Wilkins, 2011. 2. Cherry SR, Sorenson JA, Phelps ME: Physics in Nuclear Medicine, 4th ed. Philadelphia, Elsevier, 2012, Ch14,Section C. 3. Hannequin P, Mas J: Statistical and heuristic noise extraction (SHINE): a new method for processing Poisson noise in scintigraphic images. Phys Med Biol, 2002, 47:4329-4344. Read More

I learnt about various areas of workplace where nuclear medicine can be used. An example of such an area is bone scintigrapghy where the process is used to scan bones of the body to establish any defects in the bone metabolism. Other significant areas of application of the principles of nuclear medicine include scanning of the heart to visualize the flow of blood and detect diseases relating to the heart and the level of coronary stenosis, detection of heart transplant rejection and evaluation of functions of the heart before and after chemotherapy.

In addition, I learnt about the use of the principle of nuclear medicine in scanning the lungs to determine if there are any respiratory and blood flow problems, assessment of functions of the lungs and detection of lung transplant rejection. Furthermore, I learnt that the principle of nuclear medicine can be applied in investigation of brain abnormalities that includes seizures, loss of memory and disruptions of the flow of blood. Other areas of application of the nuclear medicine principle that I learnt during the internship include identification of abnormal functions of the gallbladder, identification of bleeding in the bowel, measurement of thyroid function for the purpose of detecting over reactive and under reactive thyroid.

In children and adults, I learnt that the process of nuclear medicine can be used to determine the presence and spread of cancer on various parts of the body, localization of sentinel lymph nodes prior to performance of surgery in patients suffering from breast cancer or soft skin tissue tumors. Other functions of the process with regards to cancer that I learnt include detection of occurrence of cancer and detection of rare tumors such as in the pancreases and adrenal cells. I also learnt that the principle of nuclear medicine can be used during investigation of abnormalities in the esophagus that includes esophageal reflux, evaluation of openness of the tear ducts and ventricular shunts as well as assessment of congenital heart complications for shunts and pulmonary blood flows. 3. Reflection on various ordinary examination measures that exist within the subject matter During the internship I learnt that an example of an area where clinical medicine is applied is during the DTPA scan.

I learnt that the process involved in this scan includes making the patient lie down and stay calm to ensure blurred images are not obtained. When the process has been completed, the images are interpreted and given the patient and the doctor for specification and determination whether they the patient is suffering from a bad kidney problem or not. Another example of examination that exists with nuclear medicines is bone examination. During the internship, I learnt about the application of bone examination procedures such as bone scan, preparation for a bone scan, the procedure for performing a bone scan, variations in bone scan tests, stages involved in performing bone scan tests, the length of time that an ordinary bone scan test should last, the risks associated with bone scan tests and how to interpret the results of bone scan tests.

During the internship, I learnt that the first procedure to be performed is injection of radionuclides into the blood stream of the patient so that they can be distributed to the bone after which a gamma camera can be used to take pictures of the skeleton. I also learnt about how to interpret the results from the bone scan pictures so that the bone problem can be established. I also learnt that the tests could be carried out in either a single step or three steps. When the procedure is done in three steps, it involves taking the pictures when the radionuclides are injected into the blood streams, after injection and when the substances are detected in the bones.

I also learnt that there are no serious risks associated with bone scan process in comparison with other imaging technologies such as CT. There are also a number of safety measures that need to be followed during the bone scan process.

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