Final answer:
Sr-89 chloride is used in palliative therapy for bone metastases pain relief, not for gastrointestinal bleeding. Barium sulfate is utilized in medical imaging to diagnose gastrointestinal tract conditions but does not treat them.
Step-by-step explanation:
Sr-89 chloride, also known as strontium-89 chloride, is a radioactive medication that is not used to treat gastrointestinal bleeding. Instead, Sr-89 chloride is primarily used in palliative therapy to relieve pain from bone metastases, which are cancerous tumors that have spread to the bones. The treatment works by the Sr-89 replacing the calcium in bones and emitting beta particles which damage the cancer cells.
Medical imaging using barium sulfate is relevant in this context because it is involved in diagnosing conditions related to the gastrointestinal tract, but not in treatment with radioisotopes like Sr-89. Barium sulfate is a contrast agent used to enhance the visibility of the gastrointestinal tract in X-ray imaging. This compound is administered orally or via an enema, allowing physicians to diagnose conditions such as acid reflux disease, Crohn's disease, and ulcers. However, barium sulfate is entirely different from Sr-89 chloride and serves a diagnostic rather than therapeutic purpose.
Unlike barium sulfate, radioactive strontium. Sr-89 chloride is used as a therapeutic agent. It provides pain relief for patients suffering from pain associated with bone metastases, taking advantage of the chemical similarity between strontium and calcium to target bone tissue.