What is Nuclear Medicine?

In nuclear medicine, very small amounts of radioactive material or radiopharmaceuticals is used for examining organ function or structure for example to diagnose cancer. The radioactive material is absorbed by the soft tissue in the body and helps visualization of abnormalities.

At DTU Health Tech, the Hevesy Lab produces such radiopharmaceuticals every morning for hospitals in the area. The medicine is used in connection with scanning of cancer patients for example to find malignant tumours. As the half-life of the radioactive material is very short, the production starts at 3:30 in the morning to enable shipping of the product to the hospitals to use during the same day.

Cyclotron

Article

Urgent need for radioactive substances for cancer treatment

DTU doubling production capacity of radioactive substances for cancer treatment with construction of new cyclotron at DTU Risø Campus. PET scans of cancer patients by hospitals requires the production of more radioactive substances for use in diagnostics and treatment... Read more

Article

Early mornings help Danish cancer patients

From early in the morning, radioactive medicine is produced in the Hevesy Laboratory situated in Risø close to Roskilde Fjord. This medicine is used in connection with the scanning of cancer patients. The durability of these liquids is measured in hours and consequently they must be used the same day, they are produced. Read more...

Read more about our research and services within Nuclear Medicine

Research

Medical Isotopes and Dosimetry

Targeted Radionuclides

Head of Group: Andreas Tue Ingemann Jensen

Facilities

Radioactive isotopes and tracers

A variety of radioactive isotopes for medical and technical purposes are offered based on irradiation either by protons on DTU Health Tech's own cyclotrons or by neutrons at different reactors in Europe and in USA.

Radiopharmaceuticals

The Radiopharmaceuticals Section produces radioactive drugs for diagnosis and therapy. The drugs are primarily sold to Danish hospitals and research institutions, but sales to institutions outside Denmark may also be arranged.

Industrial and medical dosimetry

The High Dose Reference Laboratory (HDRL) services the radiation processing industry in Denmark and abroad, and in particular the medical device industry that sterilizes products using radiation.

Contact for more info

To learn more about this topic, contact these researchers

Radiopharmaceuticals

Clive Naidoo

Clive Naidoo Head of Hevesy Laboratory Department of Health Technology Mobile: 9351 0870

Dosimetry

Christina Ankjærgaard

Christina Ankjærgaard Head of Dosimetry, senior researcher Department of Health Technology Mobile: +45 61656929

Targeted radionuclides

Andreas Tue Ingemann Jensen

Andreas Tue Ingemann Jensen Senior Researcher Department of Health Technology Phone: +45 46775362 Mobile: 2012 6187