# Why do hospitals have particle accelerators?

- Institution: TED
- Department: TED-Ed
- Speaker: Pedro Brugarolas
- Year: 2019
- Level: For everyone
- Language: English
- Subjects: Biology, Medicine and health
- Source: [TED](https://www.ted.com/talks/pedro_brugarolas_why_do_hospitals_have_particle_accelerators)
- Licence: [CC BY-NC-ND 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) (Non-commercial use only, and no changed versions.)
- Who can watch: Teens profiles and older (sources give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the source's own words)

Is there a way to detect diseases like cancer and Alzheimer's before they advance too far? Doctors are using injected radioactive drugs that circulate through the body and act as a beacon for PET scanners. These diagnostic tools can detect the spread of diseases before they can be spotted with other types of imaging. So how exactly does this work, and is it safe? Pedro Brugarolas investigates.

## Lectures

1. [Why do hospitals have particle accelerators?](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/ted/pedro_brugarolas_why_do_hospitals_have_particle_accelerators/ec3dadab444f), 5 min (TED's player)