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Nuclear Medicine Scan in Rohtak | About Nuclear Medicine

What is nuclear medicine ?

  • Nuclear medicine is a medical branch that includes both diagnostic imaging and therapeutic intervention in its fold.
  • Nuclear medicine uses very small amounts of radioactive materials (radiopharmaceuticals/ dye) to diagnose and treat disease.
  • In nuclear medicine dye is given to patients by injection into a vein or skin, in tablet form or by inhalation. These substances accumulate in certain parts of the body where they make metabolic processes visible.
  • The radiopharmaceuticals are then detected by special types of cameras (Gamma camera or PET-CT) that work with computers to provide very precise pictures of the area of the body being imaged. This distribution pattern helps physicians by giving functional information of organs and tissues.

What are uses of nuclear medicine ?

Diagnostics: Nuclear medicine procedures are used to diagnose cancer, heart disease, kidney diseases, brain disorders such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, gastrointestinal disorders, lung disorders, bone disorders and thyroid disorders.

Therapy: Nuclear medicine can also be used to treat certain types of cancer and other diseases. In nuclear medicine therapy, special radiation with short-range effects is used. The substances administered reach the diseased cells and destroy them by radioactive radiation. The best-known example of this is radioiodine therapy for thyroid patients and thyroid cancer.

What technologies are used for these procedures?

Gamma camera

A gamma camera is a specialized camera that is capable of detecting a radiotracer. The gamma camera creates two-dimensional pictures of the inside of the body from different angles.

Single-photon emission-computed tomography (SPECT)

A SPECT scan uses a gamma camera that rotates around the patient to detect a radiotracer in the body. Working with a computer, SPECT creates three-dimensional images of the area being studied.

Positron emission tomography (PET)

PET involves the use of an imaging device (PET scanner) and a radiotracer that is injected into the patient's bloodstream. The PET scanner, which is able to detect emitted photons after injection, creates three-dimensional images that show how the FDG is distributed in the area of the body being studied.

What are nuclear medicine scans advantages over other imaging techniques like USG/CT?

In terms of diagnosis, nuclear medicine is able to:

  • Provide information which is at chemical and biological level and about functional aspect of organ. Nuclear medicine provides detailed pictures of what is happening inside the body at the molecular and cellular level
  • Identify disease and cellular changes in its earliest stages and determine the exact location of a tumor, often before symptoms occur or abnormalities can be detected with other diagnostic testslike CT/MRI.
  • Nuclear medicine scans detect the radiation coming from a radioactive material inside a patient's body. In contrast, other imaging procedures (for example, X-ray and computed tomography or CT scan) obtain images by using machines that send radiation through the body

How are scans performed and how long they last ?

  • Scans are performed on outpatient basis.
  • Radiopharmaceutical /dye is mostly prepared in house Gamma camera scans) as per scan requirement. Quality and quantity of dye is strictly controlled and measured by sophisticated equipment.
  • This dye is injected and patient has to wait for some time ranging from few minutes to few hours (3 hours for bone scan). This time is required for dye to go and fix to organs and is variable for different scans.
  • After this waiting period, image is acquired under the camera. Camera image acquisitions last from 15 to 45 minutes, depending on the type of exam and the area to be explored. The process takes place either in a lying down position, or standing in front of the detector.
  • At the end of the exam, patient can resume normal daily routine, drive a car, use public transportation, go to public places and travel by plane.
  • However contact with pregnant women or young children should be avoided on the day of the exam.

How will patient feel post scan? What should or should not patient do after the scan?

  • Patient won't feel any particular symptom after the exam.
  • The injected dye is fast eliminated via digestive and urinary tract. The radio isotope most often used for diagnosis purposes are Technetium 99m (99mTc) and Fluorine 18 (18F). They haveshort half-life (99mTc-6 hours, 18F- 110 min), meaning that it soon loses its radioactive properties. Patient needs to drink plenty of fluid to increase urinary elimination.
  • At the end of the exam, patient can resume normal daily routine, drive a car, use public transportation, go to public places and travel by plane.

What are the cautions to be taken for nuclear medicine studies? Contra-indications?

Most of the Nuclear Medicine examinations are without risk or contraindications.

  • The only relative contra-indication is pregnancy.
  • Patient is advised to avoid for a certain period of time close contact to other people especially with pregnant or children.

What is the future of nuclear medicine?

Nuclear medicine is improving the way cancer is detected and treated. These technologies are also playing an important role in the development of: Personalized medicine, in which medical treatment is based on a patient's unique genetic profile. Precision medicine - where disease is first detected and localized and then targeted using radiopharmaceuticals
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