Primary tasks listed in the American Pharmacists Association’s Nuclear Pharmacy Practice Guidelines include: Order, receipt, storage and inventory control of radioactive drugs (radiopharmaceuticals), other drugs used in nuclear medicine, and related supplies Preparation of radiopharmaceuticals by combining radioisotopes with reagent kits, and compounding radiopharmaceuticals that are not commercially available Functional checks of instruments, equipment and [...]

There are certain precautions that must be taken into account when handling radiopharmaceutical materials on a daily basis. Nuclear pharmacists receive extensive training on the various radiopharmaceuticals that they use. They are trained in radiation safety and other aspects specific to the compounding and preparation of radioactive materials. Many things are required to become pharmacists, [...]

There are essentially two different kinds of nuclear pharmacy services called Institutional Nuclear Pharmacy and Commercial Centralized Nuclear Pharmacies: Institutional Nuclear Pharmacy is most likely operated through large medical centers or hospitals. Commercial Centralized Nuclear Pharmacies provide their services to subscriber hospitals. They prepare and dispense radiopharmaceuticals as unit doses that are then delivered to [...]

The concept of nuclear pharmacy was first described in 1960 by Captain William H. Briner while at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland. Along with Mr. Briner, John E. Christian, who was a professor in the School of Pharmacy at Purdue University, had written articles and contributed in other ways to set [...]

Tc-99m Sestamibi Breast Tumor Scan In this study, the injected radiotracer shows high affinity for areas of high metabolism, as is commonly seen with tumor cells.  In this example, the tracer is taken up in areas of increased metabolism in the breast and surrounding lymphatic areas.  This is indicative of primary breast cancer, as well [...]

Tc-99m Exametazime Brain Imaging Highly lipophilic molecules (such as exametazime) will penetrate the protective blood brain barrier and be taken up in the brain tissues.  Since uptake will be proportional to regional blood flow, the amount of tracer deposited will be indicative of how much blood flow reaches a particular area.  In this example, an [...]

Nuclear pharmacy is a specialty area of pharmacy practice dedicated to the compounding and dispensing of radioactive materials for use in nuclear medicine procedures.  A specialty area of pharmacy practice is one that requires a concentration of knowledge in a once specific area.  The development of nuclear pharmacy as a specialty area followed the development [...]