Question

What is radioactive sugar?

Answer 1

Radioactive Sugars

• Those sugar molecules that involve the presence of various radioactive isotopes of carbon, oxygen, or hydrogen are known as radioactive sugars.

Applications of radioactive sugars

• A radioactive form of sugar (glucose) is often used in positive emission tomography (PET) scan.

• In PET scan, a limited concentration of radioactive glucose is injected into veins, and the scanner makes a picture of where the glucose is being used up in the body.
• Cancer cells get highlighted in the picture, being more active and taking up more glucose in comparison to the normal cells.
• Cancer cells can be easily detected with the help of radioactive glucose.