Atlas of Diagnostic Nuclear Medicine (Repost)

Nuclear medicine is a relatively young medical discipline. Serious work with medical radioisotopes began at German universities in 1950. Before the first production facilities were established in Europe, radioisotopes had to be flown into Germany from the United States. As a result, radionuclide studies could not be performed during inclement weather. The German Roentgenographic Society was the first professional society to recognize the importance of nuclear medi- eine as a specialty and founded the Association for the Study of Radioisotopes (RIAG). Next came the Association for the Study of Radioisotopes in Internal Medicine (ARIGIM), whose first large sym- posium, held in Freiburg in 1962, had an attendance of approximately 100. On February 22,1963, the director of the former Czerny Hospital in Heidelberg, Prof. Becker, ended the rivalry between the two soci- eties by persuading Prof. von Hevesy, a Nobel Prize winner, to serve as the first joint chairman. Shortly thereafter, the Society of Nuclear Medicine was founded at the request of small groups of European specialists. By its tenth annual meeting, the Society had a roster of 600 members from 22 countries.
There is scarcely any other specialty in which the natural seien ces, technology, physiology, and the various clinical disciplines are so closely uni ted as in nuclear medicine. As a result, nuclear medicine relies to a unique degree on interdisciplinary cooperation for its effectiveness and continued development.