What are 'radiopharmaceuticals'?

What are 'radiopharmaceuticals'?

Hossein Jadvar (Doctor) gives expert video advice on: How are radiopharmaceuticals made?; What are examples of radiopharmaceuticals?; Are there radiation risks of radiopharmaceuticals? and more...

Radiopharmaceuticals are basically pharmaceuticals which have been labelled with radioactive material, a variety of radioactive material. That radioactive material is like a light beacon, that's the one that gives the gamma rays out, or in the case of positron emission tomography, it's a positron label that gives off positrons. Basically they act as a light beacon, following where the pharmaceutical is distributing in the body, and that's the reason we call it radiopharmaceuticals.