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Or just routine...
G.D. continues to get old. After a long day of having radioisotopes scanned in her heart it was concluded that she should live another twenty years.
She claims that everything before two years ago is subject to her fancy and not dependant on any sort of reality. Sounds like American foreign policy...
But one thing interesting and sort of wonderful, I was telling the technician about having a similar scan of my entire body years ago and (it was several hours long in this case) the tech told me that someday they would be able to target cancer on a single cell level and zap them, ending the need for chemo and radiation. (If you are or have been a cancer patient it was like finding out unicorns are real and you can ride them.)
This tech told me that essentially they have been able to treat thyroid cancer using this approach. Apparently thyroids love iodine so they target the cells with some sort of radioactive iodine... I don't know. Google it! But Amazing or What? Or go here: Radioimmunotherapy is a type of treatment where doctors inject antibodies that have isotopes attached like little backpacks. The antibodies (called monoclonal antibodies) then flow through the bloodstream and attach themselves to the cancerous cells. The energy from the medical isotopes is thus targeted straight to the cancer. This type of treatment is showing great promise for blood cancers such as leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma. Most Radioimmunotherapy treatments are still in clinical trials.
Medical isotopes can also be directed to cancerous cells by a carrier that has an attraction to a certain part of the body. Chemical phosphonates can be paired with medical isotopes and sent to the bone, since phosphonate is a natural building block of bone matrix. FDA approved treatments for pain associated with cancer that has spread to the bone are based on this delivery system. The medical isotope Iodine has been used for thyroid treatment for years because the isotope itself is naturally attracted to the thyroid.
The short lived isotopes are hard to get and there is very little supply so lots of people are not getting treated with them. Maybe, instead they could shrink a bunch of scientists down to cell size and put them in a miniature submarine and inject them into a patients blood stream? THAT WOULD BE POPULAR AND SEXY!
G.D. continues to get old. After a long day of having radioisotopes scanned in her heart it was concluded that she should live another twenty years.
She claims that everything before two years ago is subject to her fancy and not dependant on any sort of reality. Sounds like American foreign policy...
But one thing interesting and sort of wonderful, I was telling the technician about having a similar scan of my entire body years ago and (it was several hours long in this case) the tech told me that someday they would be able to target cancer on a single cell level and zap them, ending the need for chemo and radiation. (If you are or have been a cancer patient it was like finding out unicorns are real and you can ride them.)
This tech told me that essentially they have been able to treat thyroid cancer using this approach. Apparently thyroids love iodine so they target the cells with some sort of radioactive iodine... I don't know. Google it! But Amazing or What? Or go here: Radioimmunotherapy is a type of treatment where doctors inject antibodies that have isotopes attached like little backpacks. The antibodies (called monoclonal antibodies) then flow through the bloodstream and attach themselves to the cancerous cells. The energy from the medical isotopes is thus targeted straight to the cancer. This type of treatment is showing great promise for blood cancers such as leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma. Most Radioimmunotherapy treatments are still in clinical trials.
Medical isotopes can also be directed to cancerous cells by a carrier that has an attraction to a certain part of the body. Chemical phosphonates can be paired with medical isotopes and sent to the bone, since phosphonate is a natural building block of bone matrix. FDA approved treatments for pain associated with cancer that has spread to the bone are based on this delivery system. The medical isotope Iodine has been used for thyroid treatment for years because the isotope itself is naturally attracted to the thyroid.
The short lived isotopes are hard to get and there is very little supply so lots of people are not getting treated with them. Maybe, instead they could shrink a bunch of scientists down to cell size and put them in a miniature submarine and inject them into a patients blood stream? THAT WOULD BE POPULAR AND SEXY!
