Research Profiles – Take a Look Inside: Medical Imaging Research

In 1895, Dr. Wilhelm Roentgen discovered that he could use X-rays to generate images of the inside of the human body. Since then, medical imaging has offered us an increasingly clearer picture of health and disease. Not only do these procedures allow clinicians to make more accurate diagnoses and better treatment decisions, they also help researchers learn more about the origins and progression of many illnesses.

Many imaging techniques require the use of radioactive isotopes. In Canada alone, 30,000 diagnostic tests are performed per week using these radioactive tracers.  And close to 90% of these tests require a specific isotope, known as technetium-99m (Tc-99m).  A recent shortage of Tc-99m has prompted researchers to explore new medical imaging techniques and methods of isotope production.

Through health research, scientists continue to develop more advanced ways of seeing inside the body, while at the same time ensuring that our health care system has the capacity to provide medical imaging when it is truly needed.

This month, learn more about medical imaging research funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

• Picturing Dementia: Dr. Sandra Black and her team are using high quality brain scans to study how dementia affects different parts of the brain over time.
• Cyclotron Solution: Dr. François Bénard and his colleagues have developed an alternative method for generating Tc-99m, which is currently only produced at a handful of aging nuclear facilities.
• Sharing Isotope Expertise: A new network of research centres across Canada is working to develop medical imaging techniques that decrease our reliance on Tc-99m.