In a letter published in the Journal of Nuclear Medicine on May 22, 2025, Dr. Celso Dario Ramos, professor at the School of Medical Sciences of the University of Campinas (Unicamp) and principal investigator at CEPID CancerThera, proposes a fundamental shift in how Nuclear Medicine is defined. According to him, the current and most commonly used description of the specialty—“the use of radioactive substances in medicine”—is inaccurate and limits the understanding of the field’s true scope.
Entitled “Redefining Nuclear Medicine: ‘biodistribution’ should be the core concept” (DOI: https://doi.org/10.2967/jnumed.125.270245), the letter was published in the “Letters to the Editor” section of the most important scientific journal in the field. In the text, the researcher argues that the essence of Nuclear Medicine lies not in the use of radioactive material itself, but in the ability to observe how molecules, cells, or substances distribute throughout the living body. “Radioisotopes are merely tools used to visualize them,” Ramos states.
The published letter reinforces Nuclear Medicine’s role as an integrative field between diagnosis and therapy, capable of providing unique functional information about the human body. By advocating for a conceptual redefinition, Ramos contributes to advancing scientific communication and strengthening the strategic role of the specialty within the context of personalized medicine.
The core proposal of the article is to replace the technical definition of the specialty with a broader and more precise concept: biodistribution. According to the author, this term better reflects the investigative nature of Nuclear Medicine and facilitates understanding of the field by professionals from other specialties and the general public. “Anyone who works in this field knows how hard it is to explain it to laypeople,” he points out.
You can read the full article at this link.
Text: Romulo Santana Osthues
