[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 130 (Friday, October 7, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2058]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         NUCLEAR MEDICINE WEEK

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                          HON. JAMES P. MORAN

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 7, 2005

  Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to remind my 
colleagues that October 2-October 8 is Nuclear Medicine Week. 
Celebrated at hospitals, clinics, imaging centers, educational 
institutions, and corporations around the world the first full week of 
October each year, Nuclear Medicine Week encourages members of the 
nuclear medicine community to take pride in their profession.
  I am proud to note that the Society of Nuclear Medicine is 
headquartered in Reston, Virginia in my congressional district. The 
Society is an international scientific and professional organization of 
more than 15,000 members dedicated to promoting the science, 
technology, and practical application of nuclear medicine. I commend 
the Society staff and its professional members for their outstanding 
work and dedication to caring for people with cancer and other serious, 
life-threatening illnesses that are diagnosed, managed, and treated 
with medical isotopes via nuclear medicine procedures.
  Nuclear medicine is a medical specialty that involves the use of 
small amounts of medical isotopes called ``tracers'' to help diagnose 
and treat a variety of diseases. These tracers are introduced into the 
body by injection, swallowing, or inhalation. A special camera, called 
gamma camera, detects the medical isotope in the target organ, bone, or 
tissue and forms an image that provides data and information about the 
imaged area of the body. This is how nuclear medicine differs an x-ray, 
ultrasound or other diagnostic test--it determines the presence of 
disease based on function rather than anatomy.
  Nuclear medicine tests are safe and painless and often identify 
abnormalities very early in the progression of a disease--long before 
some medical problems are apparent through other diagnostic tests. This 
early detection allows a disease to be treated in its beginning stages, 
which significantly improves the odds of a successful outcome.
  An estimated 16 million nuclear medicine imaging and therapeutic 
procedures are performed on 20 million individuals each year in the 
United States. These procedures are a vital tool in the diagnosis and 
treatment of patients with cancers of the brain, breast, blood, bone, 
bone marrow, liver, lungs, pancreas, thyroid, ovaries, and prostate, as 
well as cardiovascular disease, neurological disorders such as stroke 
and Alzheimer's disease, and kidney disease.
  Some of the more frequently performed nuclear medicine procedures 
include:
  Bone scans to examine orthopedic injuries, fractures, tumors or 
unexplained bone pain.
  Heart scans to identify normal or abnormal blood flow to the heart 
muscle, measure heart function or determine the existence or extent of 
damage to the heart muscle after a heart attack.
  Breast scans that are used in conjunction with mammograms to more 
accurately detect and locate cancerous tissue in the breasts.
  Liver and gallbladder scans to evaluate liver and gallbladder 
function.
  Cancer imaging to detect tumors and determine the severity (staging) 
of various types of cancer.
  Treatment of thyroid diseases and certain types of cancer.
  Brain imaging to investigate problems within the brain itself or in 
blood circulation to the brain.
  Renal imaging in children to examine kidney function.
  Unfortunately, funding for nuclear medicine research is in jeopardy. 
The President's FY 2006 Budget cut the Medical Applications and 
Measurement Science, MAMS, Program at the Department of Energy, DOE, 
Office of Biological and Environmental Research, OBER, from $37 million 
to $14 million and earmarked the remaining funds for research unrelated 
to nuclear medicine. The DOE has funded nuclear medicine research for 
over 50 years. Fortunately, the House Energy and Water Appropriations 
Subcommittee restored $35 million for the MAMS Program, but the Senate 
Energy and Water Appropriations bill is silent on this matter. It is 
vital that this small but highly successful program receive funding at 
the House level in conference. The MAMS Program is directly responsible 
for the creation of positron emission tomography, PET, and current 
research projects will create the next generation imaging procedures 
that will save lives.
  I encourage my colleagues to support Nuclear Medicine Week and to 
support the House funding level for the MAMS Program so that our nation 
will continue to be at the cutting edge of life saving nuclear medicine 
and imaging research.

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