Background
About Nuclear Medicine
Nuclear medicine is a field in which minute quantities of radioactively labelled substances — known as radiopharmaceuticals — are used to make disease visible (diagnostics) or to treat it directly (therapy).
Unlike conventional imaging, nuclear medicine provides not only anatomical but functional information — showing how an organ or tissue is actually working.
Diagnostics: PET and SPECT
In positron emission tomography (PET) and single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), radiopharmaceuticals are administered that accumulate selectively in specific tissues. The radiation they emit is captured by specialised cameras and processed into diagnostic images. These techniques play a central role in the early detection and monitoring of cancer, cardiovascular disease and neurological disorders.
Key radionuclides
- Fluorine-18 (F-18)
- The basis for FDG-PET, one of the most widely used diagnostic techniques in oncology.
- Gallium-68 (Ga-68)
- Used in specialised PET procedures, including for neuroendocrine tumours and prostate cancer diagnostics.
- Technetium-99m (Tc-99m)
- The most commonly used radionuclide in SPECT diagnostics.
- Iodine-131 (I-131)
- Used both diagnostically and therapeutically, particularly in thyroid medicine.
- Lutetium-177 (Lu-177)
- A central radionuclide in modern theranostics, used among other things for neuroendocrine tumours and prostate cancer.
Theranostics: diagnosis and therapy combined
Theranostics describes the combined use of diagnostics and therapy targeting the same molecular mechanism: a diagnostic radiopharmaceutical is first used to determine whether a tumour carries a specific target structure; a therapeutic radiopharmaceutical is then used to attack that same structure directly. This approach is among the most significant developments in modern oncology.
Why logistics matters so much in nuclear medicine
Radiopharmaceuticals are subject to strict time, temperature and regulatory requirements. Many of the radionuclides used have extremely short half-lives — sometimes only a few hours. A delayed or failed transport can directly affect:
- PET examinations
- SPECT examinations
- Radionuclide therapies
- Radiopharmaceutical production
- Clinical trials
This is exactly where ISOVIA comes in: we understand the clinical urgency behind every transport and design our logistics to consistently meet these demands.
Tell us what you need to move.
Whether it's a scheduled courier order, an emergency transport, or an enquiry about our backup solutions — we look forward to hearing from you.