Nuclear Medicine
Nuclear medicine studies employ safe and painless techniques to image your body’s organs and treat disease. These studies use very small doses of radioactive materials, called radioisotopes, administered by trained technologists. These isotopes are attracted to specific body tissues, such as bone, liver, lung, heart or brain, producing images detected by a special type of camera. The camera produces images that are read and interpreted by our radiologist.
The amount of isotope introduced into your body is small and nuclear medicine procedures are very safe.
Preparation for exam:
Please contact the medical facility where your exam will be performed to discuss the preparation specific to your exam. Be sure to tell the technologist if you think you may be pregnant.
Length of exam:
The length of the exam varies depending on which part of the body is being evaluated. A bone scan for example takes about 3 hours. A scan of the gallbladder takes about one and a half hours. A thyroid scan takes about 24 hours in total with images obtained at 6 and 24 hours after taking the radioactive material. A Diversified Radiologist will interpret your images and a report will be sent to your referring physician, within 24 hours of your test.
Nuclear Medicine exam services include but are not limited to:
- Bone
- Liver
- Brain
- Lungs
- Endocrine System
- Heart
- Heart
- Thyroid Therapy
- Kidneys