Doctor of Medicine (MD) Nuclear Medicine: Admission, Fees, Medical Colleges, Eligibility Criteria details here

What is MD in Nuclear Medicine?

Doctor of Medicine in Nuclear Medicine, also known as MD (Nuclear Medicine) is a three-year postgraduate programme that candidates can pursue after completing MBBS.

Nuclear Medicine is the branch of medical science dealing with nuclear medicine tests to diagnose, evaluate, and treat various diseases.

National Medical Commission (NMC), the apex medical regulator, has released a Guidelines for Competency-Based Postgraduate Training Programme for MD in Nuclear Medicine.

The Competency-Based Postgraduate Training Programme governs the education and training of MDs in Nuclear Medicine.

The PG education intends to create specialists who can contribute to high-quality health care and advances in science through research and training.

The required training done by a postgraduate specialist in the field of Nuclear Medicine would help the specialist recognize the community's health needs. The student should be competent to handle medical problems effectively and should be aware of the recent advances in their specialty.

The candidate should be a highly competent doctor possessing a broad range of skills that will enable her/him to practice Nuclear Medicine independently. The PG candidate should also acquire the basic skills in teaching medical/para-medical students.

The candidate is also expected to know the principles of research methodology and modes of the consulting library. The candidate should regularly attend conferences, workshops, and CMEs to upgrade her/ his knowledge.

Course Highlights

Here are some of the course highlights of an MD in Nuclear Medicine: 

Eligibility Criteria

The eligibility criteria for MD in Nuclear Medicine are defined as the set of rules or minimum prerequisites that aspirants must meet to be eligible for admission, which include:

• Candidates must have an undergraduate MBBS degree from any college/university recognized by the Medical Council of India (MCI).

• Candidates should have done a compulsory rotating internship of one year in a teaching institution or other institution which is recognized by the Medical Council of India (MCI).

• The candidate must have obtained permanent registration of any State Medical Council to be eligible for admission.

• The medical college's recognition cut-off dates for the MBBS Degree courses and compulsory rotatory Internship shall be as prescribed by the Medical Council of India (now NMC).

Admission Process

The admission process contains a few steps to be followed in order by the candidates for admission to MD in Nuclear Medicine. Candidates can view the complete admission process for MD in Nuclear Medicine mentioned below:

• The NEET PG or National Eligibility Entrance Test for Post Graduate is a national-level master's level examination conducted by the NBE for admission to MD/MS/PG Diploma Courses.

• The requirement of eligibility criteria for participation in counseling towards PG seat allotment conducted by the concerned counseling authority shall be instead of the Post Graduate Medical Education Regulations (as per the latest amendment) notified by the MCI (now NMC) with prior approval of MoHFW.

• The following Medical institutions are not covered under centralized admissions for MD/MS seats through NEET- PG:

1. AIIMS, New Delhi, and other AIIMS

2. PGIMER, Chandigarh

3. JIPMER, Puducherry

4. NIMHANS, Bengaluru

Fees Structure

The fee structure for MD in Nuclear Medicinevaries from college to college. The fee is generally less for Government Institutes and more for private institutes. The average fee structure for MD in Nuclear Medicine is Rs. 7000 to Rs. 20 Lakhs per year.

Colleges offering MD in Nuclear Medicine

There are various medical colleges across India that offer courses for pursuing MD (Nuclear Medicine).

As per National Medical Commission (NMC) website, the following medical colleges are offering MD (Nuclear Medicine) courses for the academic year 2022-23.

Stipend MD Nuclear Medicine

The stipend offered by various medical colleges in India for MD Nuclear Medicine for the year 2022 is as follows:

Syllabus

An MD in Nuclear Medicine is a three years specialization course that provides training in the stream of Nuclear Medicine.

The course content for MD in Nuclear Medicine is given in the Competency-Based Postgraduate Training Programme released by National Medical Commission, which can be assessed on the link given below:

The syllabus is divided into the following four parts:

1. Basic Science aspects of Radiation Physics and its application to diagnostic/ therapeutic Nuclear Medicine

2. Diagnostic Nuclear Medicine and its applications

3. Therapeutic Nuclear Medicine and its applications

4. Recent Advances in Nuclear Medicine

At the end of the course, the student should have acquired knowledge in the following:

Part I: Basic Science related to Nuclear Medicine

1.1 Radiation Physics and Instrumentation

a. Structure of atom, Natural and artificial radioactivity.

b. Modes of Radioactive decay.

c. Interaction of radiation with matter.

d. Principles of radiation detection and detectors.

e. Basic principles of production of radionuclides by reactors and cyclotrons.

f. Nuclear Medicine Instrumentation including Gamma Cameras, Single Photon Computed Tomography (SPECT), Positron Emission Tomography (PET), Hybrid Imaging Systems like SPECT/CT, PET/CT and PET/MR

g. Counting Systems: Well counters, liquid scintillation counters, spectrometers, Radioactive Iodine Uptake (RAIU) probe and radiation monitoring devices.

h. Quality control of Nuclear Instruments, as in (f and g).

i. Collimation of radiation detectors and the characteristics of various collimators, their response to point, line and plane sources.

j. Electronic instruments, such as pulse amplifiers, pulse height analyzer, count rate meters and computer interfaces including gating devices.

k. Software and hardware fusion technology, Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) technology and Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS).

1.2 Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Sciences.

a. Basic Mathematical concepts, counting statistics, probability distribution, Baysian and McNemmar statistics, parametric and non- parametric statistics.

b. Compartmental analysis and mathematical models of physiologic systems.

c. Basic aspects of computer structure, function and programming.

d. Computer applications with emphasis on digital image acquisition, analysis, processing and enhancement, tomographic reconstruction, display and recordings of findings.

e. Fundamental of filters, their applications and uses.

1.3 Radiation Biology

a. The biological effects of radiation exposure with emphasis on the effects of low level exposure.

b. Methods of reducing unnecessary radiation exposure to patients, personnel and environment.

c. ICRP recommendations and their amendments from time to time and other international recommendations, environmental regulations- regarding limits of radiation exposure, handling of radioactive patients, transport of radioactivity material and disposal of radioactive wastes.

d. The diagnosis, evaluation and treatment of radiation over exposure in any form.

Part 2: Diagnostic Nuclear Medicine

2.1 Radiopharmaceuticals

The chemical, physical and biological properties of radiopharmaceuticals used in Nuclear Medicine investigations; production, Quality Control and Regulations of hospital based-Nuclear Pharmacy.

The emphasis will be on:

a. Physical and chemical characteristics of radionuclide used in diagnostic Nuclear Medicine

b. Criteria for selection of radionuclide for diagnostic purposes

c. Biological behavior of radiopharmaceuticals

d. Quality control

e. Mechanism of localization

f. Positron Emitting radionuclides, target reactions and their radiopharmaceuticals chemistry, various synthetic modules.

g. Specific topics on Radiopharmaceuticals: Bone seeking, hepatobiliary, brain and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), renal, thyroid, parathyroid, infection imaging, Tumor Seeking, cardiac imaging etc.

h. Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) and Laws pertaining to in-house manufacturing of Radiopharmaceuticals.

i. Radiopharmaceuticals for Research.

2.2 In vivo Diagnostic Imaging

a. General clinical indications for organ imaging; normal and altered anatomy, physiology, biochemistry and metabolism of various organs. Must learn the technical aspects of performing the procedures including proper patient preparation and patient management before, during and after the procedure.

b. In vivo imaging and/or functional studies including brain Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT), tracing of cerebrospinal fluid pathways, thyroid imaging, salivary glands, lungs, heart, gastrointestinal, hepatobiliary system, spleen, kidney, prostate, adrenal, bone and joints, bone marrow evaluation etc.

c. The use of physiologic gating techniques for functional studies and patient monitoring during intervention, both physical exercise and using pharmacological stress agents

d. Cellular kinetics, absorption and excretion analysis, nuclear hematology and metabolic balance studies using radiotracers.

e. Comparative analysis of Nuclear Medicine procedures with X-ray, Ultrasound, Echo, MRI, CT and angiography etc.

f. Nuclear Cardiology: Stress and redistribution studies using Thallium201 and other technetium-based myocardial perfusion agents; myocardial viability, Gated SPECT studies, etc.

g. Positron Emission Tomography (PET): All indications for use of PET imaging in oncology, cardiology, neurosciences and psychiatric disorders.

2.3 In vitro Studies

a. Principles of Radioimmunoassay (RIA), quality control and data analysis for various hormones and drugs assays.

b. Glomerular Filtration Rate (GFR) estimation, Red Cell Survival, Red Cell Mass using chromium and C14 urea Breath test.

Part 3: Therapeutic Nuclear Medicine

3.1 Principles of Internal Dosimetry: Calculation of the radiation dose from internally administered radionuclide

3.2 Characteristics of Radionuclides/Radiopharmaceuticals for radionuclide therapy

3.3 Radiation protection in therapeutic set up: Design of Isolation ward as per the norms of Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB)

3.4 Principles of OPD and in-door therapy administration

3.5 Therapy in thyroid disorders; benign thyroid diseases, aetiology of hyperthyroidism, various modalities of treatment and follow up strategy, long-term outcome and various national and international regulations pertaining to therapeutic administration of radionuclides.

Therapy in thyroid disorders; aetiopathology, classification and diagnosis of thyroid nodules and malignancies- various modalities of treatment and follow-up strategies, long-term outcome and various national and international regulations pertaining to therapeutic administration of radionuclides.

3.6 Bone pain palliation using various radionuclides such as P32, Sr89, Y90, Sm153, Ra223, Lu177 etc.

3.7 Radiosynevectomy

3.8 Radiopeptide therapy and Radioconjugate therapy

3.9 Radioimmunotherapy

3.10 Locoregional internal radiation therapy

3.11 Research agents in radionuclide therapy

Part 4: Recent Advances in Nuclear Medicine

Covering all aspects of the following areas:

4.1 Instrumentation

4.2 Radiopharmaceuticals

4.3 Diagnostic procedures

4.4 Therapeutic procedures

Career Options

After completing an MD in Nuclear Medicine, candidates will get employment opportunities in Government as well as in the Private sector.

In the Government sector, candidates have various options to choose from, which include Registrar, Senior Resident, Demonstrator, Tutor, etc.

While in the Private sector, the options include Resident Doctor, Consultant, Visiting Consultant (Nuclear Medicine), Junior Consultant, Senior Consultant (Nuclear Medicine), Consultant Nuclear Medicine Specialist, etc.

Courses After MD in Nuclear Medicine Course

MD in Nuclear Medicine is a specialization course that can be pursued after finishing MBBS. After pursuing a specialization in MD (Nuclear Medicine), a candidate could also pursue super specialization courses recognized by NMC, where MD (Nuclear Medicine) is a feeder qualification.

Frequently Asked Question (FAQs) – MD in Nuclear Medicine Course

Question: What is an MD in Nuclear Medicine?

Answer: MD Nuclear Medicine or also known as MD in Nuclear Medicine is a Postgraduate level course for doctors in India that is done by them after completion of their MBBS.

Question: What is the duration of an MD in Nuclear Medicine?

Answer: MD in Nuclear Medicine is a postgraduate programme of three years.

Question: What is the eligibility of an MD in Nuclear Medicine?

Answer: Candidates must be in possession of an undergraduate MBBS degree from any college/university recognized by the Medical Council of India.

Question: What is the scope of an MD in Nuclear Medicine?

Answer: MD in Nuclear Medicine offers candidates various employment opportunities and career prospects.

Question: What is the average salary for an MD in Nuclear Medicine postgraduate candidate?

Answer: The MD in Nuclear Medicine candidate's average salary is Rs. 2 Lakh – Rs. 34 Lakh per annum.

Question: What is the difference between radiology and nuclear medicine?

Answer: The primary difference between nuclear medicine and radiology is that nuclear medicine creates images using internal radiation waves from inside the body while radiology develops images through apply external energy waves to the body.

Question: What are examples of nuclear medicine?

Answer: Nuclear medicine procedures are used in diagnosing and treating certain illnesses. These procedures use radioactive materials called radiopharmaceuticals. Examples of diseases treated with nuclear medicine procedures are hyperthyroidism, thyroid cancer, lymphomas, and bone pain from some types of cancer.