Nuclear medicine techniques were first applied in endocrine disorders, mainly involving the thyroid gland. Radioiodine administration is still the standard of care for the ablation of thyroid remnants after surgery for thyroid cancer, and for patient follow-up and re-staging.
Endocrinology
Several radiopharmaceuticals are used for the evaluation of other endocrine conditions such as parathyroid diseases and some neuro-endocrine tumours, both for diagnostic and treatment purposes. Novel applications using PET technology are currently expanding the field of nuclear medicine in clinical endocrinology.