The isotope of copper known as CU64 is used for seeing what is happening inside the body. When CU64 decays back into normal copper, it emits a particle called a positron, which passes through the body and we can detect. By putting CU64 inside the body we can see things like internal organs where the copper accumulates. This is called positron emission tomography, or a PET scan.
CU64 is one of many isotopes you can use for this, and is nice because unlike other options it emits a good quantity of particles (resulting in good image quality) and lasts a long time (so we don’t have to worry about it getting to where it needs to be - in the world and in the body - before it decays).
The isotope of copper known as CU64 is used for seeing what is happening inside the body. When CU64 decays back into normal copper, it emits a particle called a positron, which passes through the body and we can detect. By putting CU64 inside the body we can see things like internal organs where the copper accumulates. This is called positron emission tomography, or a PET scan.
CU64 is one of many isotopes you can use for this, and is nice because unlike other options it emits a good quantity of particles (resulting in good image quality) and lasts a long time (so we don’t have to worry about it getting to where it needs to be - in the world and in the body - before it decays).