The Medical Use of Radioactive Isotopes and Summary of Potential Risks

Abstract

This article summarises the use and dangers of radioactive isotopes in healthcare. The authors illustrate the need for the use of radioactive isotopes by presenting the diversity of medical uses, explaining the dangers of radioactivity. These hazards can trigger events with serious consequences if safety regulations are not respected.
Radioactive isotopes have been consciously used for medical purposes for more than a hundred years, the body of knowledge related to them is constantly expanding,
and research is taking place that reveals new possibilities. One of the unstable isotopes of carbon is the carbon-14 radioisotope, which is used not only in healthcare but also in age determination. The radioactive isotope technetium-99m is used for scintillographic detection of thyroid diseases. Their assessment is rather ambivalent,
because under controlled conditions, in calculated quantities, and in compliance with the basic principles of radiation protection, they are important helpers to humanity, but if they are released into the environment in an accident, they can exert their harmful effects in the long term near a living organism. Nowadays, the majority of
radioactive isotopes are practically indispensable, they have been consciously and deliberately serving humanity since the beginning of the 1900s.