How can isotopes be used in medicine?

Radiation from the decay of an unstable nucleus can be used in a variety of ways in hospitals. For example, gamma radiation can be focused and concentrated on a tumor to kill cancerous cells while causing the least amount of damage to surrounding tissue.

Finally, small amounts of radioactive materials (unstable isotopes) can be injected into a patient's body and detected by medical tracers. Iodine 123 (not 131 as this emits beta radiation which is less preferable) is used in tracing to investigate thyroid function problems. Gamma radiation can also be used to sterilise medical equipment.

To sum up, isotopes can be used in medicine to provide radiation and aid in the diagnosis and treatment of conditions that would otherwise be difficult.

This helpful website, https://tutor.hix.ai offers additional examples.

I hope this helps, and I apologize for any mistakes. This information came from my GCSE and A level revision books (a fun hobby!), with cross-referencing from BBC bitesize and the website I have provided a link to. Cgp books cover isotopes in medicine well for further reference.

There are two main uses of isotopes in medicine: therapeutically, isotopes like iodine-131 are used in radiation therapy to treat conditions like thyroid cancer and hyperthyroidism by targeting and destroying cancerous or overactive thyroid cells; in diagnostics, radioactive isotopes like technetium-99m are used as tracers in imaging techniques like positron emission tomography (PET) and single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) to visualize internal organs and tissues, detect abnormalities, and diagnose diseases like cancer and cardiovascular disorders.