Nuclear Medicine

In nuclear medicine studies a small amount of a radioactive tracer is used to show the function, physiology or blood flow to a certain body part. A special camera is used to detect this radiation from the patient and images are made. The radiation the patient receives is a very small amount, and usually the material is out of the body within 24 hours.

Nuclear medicine can be used in the diagnosis of disease, injury or infection in many parts of the body including bone, gallbladder, thyroid, liver, spleen, heart, kidneys, stomach and lymphnodes.

At Shore Memorial Hospital, some of the common nuclear medicine scans include:

• Total body bone scan, limited bone scan and III phase bone scan
• Disida scan, and disida scan with ejection fraction
• Thyroid uptake scan, and thyroid whole body
• Liver and spleen scan, or liver scan for hemangioma
• Nuclear stress tests including myoview, thallium, adenosine, persantine, and walking
• Renal scan with our without lasix or capoten, this includes, Mag3, DTPA, or DMSA
• Gastric emptying scan, liquid or solid
• Sentinal node
• Ceretec WBC, or gallium scan
• Octreoscan, CEA, 131 iodine whole body, and therapy