Benefits of Technetium-99m
- Examines the metabolic process without significant harm to the patient
- Allows rapid diagnosis
- Non-invasive diagnostic procedures on the heart, brain, kidneys and thyroid, that would not be otherwise possible
- Radiation treatment of cancers
- Short half-life of 6 hours means that radioisotope decays very quickly and causes very little damage
to the patient - Low energy emission level is just enough for gamma cameras to detect, yet cause very little
damage to the patient - Different forms of technetium-99m means that it will travel to different organs in the body, thus
allowing for specific diagnostics - No side effects on patient