Nuclear Medicine

Nuclear Medicine uses small amounts of radioactive material to diagnose or treat diseases such as heart diseases, cancer.

Nuclear medicine specialists use safe, painless and cost effective techniques to image the body and treat disease. Nuclear medicine imaging is unique, because it provides doctors with information about both structure and function of organs. It is a way to gather medical information that would otherwise be unavailable, require surgery or necessitate more expensive diagnostic tests. Nuclear medicine imaging procedures often identify abnormalities very early in the progress of a disease, sometimes long before many medical problems are apparent with other diagnostic tests.

Nuclear medicine uses very small amounts of radioactive materials (radiopharmaceuticals) to diagnose and treat disease. In imaging, the radiopharmaceuticals are detected by special types of cameras that work with computers to provide very precise pictures about the area of the body being imaged. In treatment, the radiopharmaceuticals go directly to the organ being treated. In treatment, the radiopharmaceuticals go directly to the organ being treated. The amount of radiation in a typical nuclear imaging procedure is comparable with that received during a diagnostic x-ray, and the amount received in a typical treatment procedure is kept within safe limits.

Depending on the type of nuclear medicine exam you are undergoing, the radiotracer is either injected into a vein, swallowed or inhaled as a gas and eventually accumulates in the organ or area of your body being examined, where it gives off energy in the form of gamma rays, which are detected by the camera.
                                                                                 
The following procedures are performed at DCH:

Skeletal:

• Three-phase Bone Imaging
• Whole Body Bone Scan
• SPECT Imaging
• Leukoscan

Renal:

• Glomerular filtration rate
• DPTA Renogram
• MAG 3 Renogram
• DMSA Renogram

Gastrointestinal:

• Red blood cell scan for GI bleeding
• Meckels Scan
• Milk scan
• Gastric emptying
• Hepatobiliary Imaging

Endocrine:

• Thyroid Imaging
• Parathyroid Imaging – Single Isotope
• Parathyroid – Dual Isotope

Lungs:

• Perfusion Imaging

Miscellaneous and Therapy:

• Dacroscintigraphy
• Sialoscintigraphy
• Lymphoscintigraphy
• Gallium
• I 131 capsule therapy
• P 32 for myeloproliferative disease

In the future we hope to be able to provide cardiac nuclear medicine scans too.

Preparation:

You will receive specific instructions based on the type of scan you are undergoing.
You may be asked to wear a gown during the exam or you may be allowed to wear your own clothing.
Women should always inform their physician or technologist if there is any possibility that they are pregnant or if they are breastfeeding their baby. You should inform your physician performing your exam of any medications you are taking, including vitamins and herbal supplements. You should also inform them if you have any allergies and about recent illnesses or other medical conditions.If you are going to travel through an airport, train station or seaport in the seven days following your examination, please contact our staff.
Jewellery and other metallic accessories should be left at home if possible, or removed prior to the exam because they may interfere with the procedure.

Sites providing nuclear medicine scanning:

• Dorchester Radiology Department

Timings:
9am to 5pm

Appointments:
Please call 01305 254481 for enquiries or to change appointment. Appointments are usually made in 1 – 2 weeks from the receipt of the request from the clinicians.

Results:
We will not be able to provide immediate results to the patients as the images will have to reconstructed and reviewed by the radiologists prior to formulating a report which is then sent on to the clinicians. You are requested to contact your referring clinician for the results in 10 days time unless you have been given any other specific instructions.

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