What is Nuclear Medicine?

Nuclear medicine is a form of diagnostic testing that provides both anatomical and physiological information about internal organs. In short this means we can evaluate both how the organs look and how the organ is functioning. Nuclear medicine allows us to visualize organ function at the cellular level. Because disease begins at the cellular level, nuclear medicine has the potential to identify pathology in an earlier, more treatable stage than other types of imaging that rely only on visual representation of the organs.

How does it work?

Nuclear medicine uses a small amount of radioactive isotopes called radiotracers or radionuclides to look at your internal organs and see how they are working. The radiotracer may be injected through an IV, ingested through the mouth, or inhaled through a breathable vapor. The radiotracer travels to specific target organs in the body-giving off gamma rays that can be detected by special cameras. A computer is then used to reconstruct pictures of the area of the body being imaged.

Common Nuclear Medicine procedures include:

Bone Scan

This scan is used to detect abnormal bone growth, usually due to tumors or infection.

A whole-body bone scan takes around 3-4 hours, which includes two separate visits. In the first visit you will be given an injection of a radioactive isotope into a vein in your arm. The isotope takes 2-3 hours to circulate through your body and get absorbed in the bone. You will be given a time to return to the Nuclear Medicine Department 2-3 hours after the injection. When you arrive for the second part, you will lie on an imaging table as you are scanned from head to toe.

HIDA Scan

If you’re having problems with your gallbladder, your doctor may want you to have a special test called a hepatobiliary iminodiacetic acid (HIDA) scan. This scan shows how well your gallbladder is working. During this test, a radioactive isotope is injected into a vein in your arm. A special camera will be positioned over your abdomen to take pictures of the isotope as it travels through your liver, bile ducts, gallbladder, and small intestine.

Gastric Emptying Study

A Gastric Emptying Study is a test to determine the time is takes a meal to move through a person’s stomach. It is typically ordered for patients with frequent nausea and/or vomiting, bloating, abdominal pain and those who feel full after eating very little.

This test takes 4-5 hours to complete. For the test, you will be given a meal to eat. The normal meal is 2 scrambled eggs, 2 pieces of toast with jam, and 6 oz. of water. In the scrambled eggs will be a few drops of a radioactive isotope. This isotope will not make the eggs taste or look any different; it just allows us to see your stomach under with our imaging camera. After you consume this meal a one-minute image of your stomach will be taken. You will be allowed to leave the department with a time to return in 1, 2, 3 and 4 hours later. Each time you return the technologist will take a one-minute image of your stomach.