Nuclear Medicine
Nuclear medicine imaging uses small amounts of radioactive material, a special camera and a computer to create images of the inside of your body. It provides unique information that often cannot be obtained using other imaging procedures to help diagnose heart disease, gastrointestinal, endocrine and other health conditions. Because nuclear medicine procedures are able to pinpoint molecular activity within the body, they may detect disease in its earliest stages when it is most easily treated.
The following nuclear medicine exams are able to be completed on a walk-in basis:
- Hepatobiliary scan (HIDA scan) - patients need to fast for at least 4-6 hours prior to the exam, but not longer than 24 hours. Prescription narcotic analgesics (painkillers) may need to be held prior to the exam (as determined by your doctor).
- Bone scan
- VQ scan (lung ventilation/perfusion scan)
The following exams will need to be scheduled in advance:
- Gastric emptying study- patients need to be fasting
- Gallium scan
- Thyroid uptake
- Parathyroid scan
- MIBG scan
- Indium tagged white blood cell scan
- Renal scan
- Sentinel lymph node exam
- Radiation thyroid ablation therapy