Nuclear data for medical applications: an overview

A brief introduction to nuclear data in medicine is given. The choice of a radioisotope for medical application demands an accurate knowledge of radio active decay data. Short-lived single photon and beta (+)-emitters are pref erred for diagnostic investigations, and longer-lived corpuscular radiation emitting radioisotopes for endoradiotherapy. The nuclear reaction cross se ction data, on the other hand, are needed for optimising the production rou tes. Besides radioactive isotopes, the use of ionising radiation in therapy is discussed. External radiation therapy has achieved an important place i n medicine. The role of nuclear data is briefly discussed; they are needed for radiation dose calculations. The hitherto rather neglected activation p roducts in proton therapy are considered. The methodology of development of a nuclear data file for medical applications is outlined.