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Old 04-07-2008, 12:13 AM
keri l keri l is offline
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isotopes are often used in medical research and therapy for a variety of diseases and genetic disorders. a few--
for example, colbat-60 is used for external beam radiotherapy, ytterbium-169 for cerebrospinal fluid studies in the brain, iodine-125: Used to evaluate glomerular filtration rate of kidneys and to diagnose deep vein thrombosis in the leg. It is also widely used in radioimmunology assays and as an x-ray source for bone density measurements.

the pros are that some isotopes are less expenive than others. a con includes radiation (some isotopes are radioactive, which can be damaging to the patiemt and/or the researcher).

hope this helps!
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