Proclamation 5514 --
National Nuclear Medicine Week, 1986
By
the President of the
of
A
Proclamation
Nuclear
medicine is an invaluable medical resource that contributes significantly to
improvements in the diagnosis and treatment of patients in the
Today,
nuclear medicine allows physicians to probe the bodies of patients without
using a scalpel. Three-dimensional images of organs such as the heart and
kidneys can be obtained, leading to early diagnosis of disease.
In
addition to images of anatomy, nuclear medicine yields information on subtle
chemical processes as they occur in the body. For example, investigators can
now examine the brain's processing of glucose, which it uses as a source of
energy. Due to advances in nuclear medicine, the underlying pathological
changes in such illnesses as Alzheimer's disease and schizophrenia are now
closer to being understood.
The
field is growing so fast that what today seems a breakthrough will tomorrow be
routine. Powerful tools such as positron emission tomography, or PET, are being
brought to bear on heart disease and cancer. Where nuclear medicine techniques
were once used to provide images of tumors, the tumors themselves may now be
located and treated using specially targeted isotopes linked to antibodies
specific to the tumor.
All
across the country, from medical centers to community hospitals, nuclear
medicine departments are becoming as common as x-ray laboratories. This field
unites the skills of medicine, physics, chemistry, and mathematics in a common
focus -- healing the sick.
To
stimulate public awareness of a medical field that has come of age, the
Congress, by House Joint Resolution 297, has designated the week beginning July
27, 1986, as ``National Nuclear Medicine Week'' and authorized and requested
the President to issue a proclamation in observance of this week.
Now,
Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the
In
Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-ninth day of July, in
the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-six, and of the
Ronald
Reagan
[Filed
with the Office of the Federal Register,
Note:
The proclamation was released by the Office of the Press Secretary on July 30.