The Paradox of Using Radionuclides To Treat Disease

Approximately 40% of us will hear at some point in our lives that we have cancer, and nearly 25% of those that hear this grave news will perish from this disease.1 Paradoxically, while most of us immediately associate radiation with diseases such as cancer, since the Nuclear Age began in the closing years of the 19th Century we have known that radioisotopes and radiation can be used to image, diagnose, and treat disease. Recently, Kozimor and co-workers have discovered a new way for the large-scale isolation and production of 119Sb that may enable targeted radiotherapeutic applications (see Figure Figure11).2 This radionuclide shows special promise of potentially delivering lethal doses of radiation to targeted diseased cells, reducing side-effects by leaving adjacent healthy tissue unharmed