Calculations in nuclear medicine - Application of free online software

Abstract

Modern nuclear medicine frequently needs to be supported by software for calculations. A self-designed free-accessible online tool named "Calculator" is presented. It can be used from the web-site www.nuk.bieganski.org, option "Calculator". The programs offer: calculations of quantity of a radionuclide after a time (equation of simple radioactive decay), quantity of the second and third nuclide in the decay chain (successive radioactive decay, computation with Bateman equations and their limits), converting of activity units as well as of activity of a radioactive substance into its mass and vice versa, and calculations related to radionuclide therapy (radionuclide uptake, effective half time and activity needed for therapy). Mathematical and historical backgrounds of the algorithms used are shortly discussed in this work. Copyright © 2013 Via Medica.