Nuclear Medicine

DR .CHRISTINA ANGELA
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR ,DIRS DU
.
 What is Nuclear Medicine?

 Nuclear medicine is very unique, because it helps doctors view how

your body is functioning.
 This type of imaging takes very small amounts of radioactive
pharmaceuticals and follows their path and progress through your
body.
 X-rays or CAT scans can show how something in your body looks,
but Nuclear Medicine can show how your body actually works.
 Nuclear medicine is a type of molecular imaging where
radioactive pharmaceuticals (often called “radiopharmaceuticals”)
are used to evaluate the body’s functions and processes
 This type of imaging can be used on all types of living things, but
here we are concerned with using this technology to help diagnose
and treat human beings.
 NUCLEAR MEDICINE IMAGING procedures
look at the bodily functions to help make your
diagnosis.

 NUCLEAR MEDICINE THERAPY can actually be

used to treat the body. If you are undergoing a
therapy process, then larger amounts of radiation
will be used to treat cancer or thyroid disease.
Equipment

 Gamma camera
 Single photon emission CT
 Indications and Contraindications

Indications
Bone metastases Contraindications
Tumor staging
– Pregnant women
Evaluate bone pain in cancer
– Weight limits
patients – Recent nuclear
Undetermined bone medicine scan
Infection; osteomyelitis
Bone trauma; stress fracture
 Diagnosis

Abdomen (example given, to check for gastrointestinal bleeding)

Brain (e.g., to look for tumors or aneurysms (blood vessel disease) or
evaluate stroke)
Blood (e.g., to test for various blood cell disorders)
Breast (e.g., to image breast cancers)
Hepatobiliary system (e.g., to check gallbladder and bile duct function)
Kidneys (e.g., to check renal function; to detect renal tumors; to test for
renal transplant rejection)
Liver/spleen (e.g., to check for cirrhosis or metastatic cancer)
Lymphatic system (e.g., to detect if cancer has spread to the lymph
nodes)
 Lung (e.g., to check for pulmonary embolism (blood clot), check for lung
transplant rejection or test for smoke inhalation injury in burn patients)
 Skeletal system (e.g., to check for metastatic cancer or to test for hidden
bone trauma in sports injuries)
 Stomach (e.g., to check for stomach function and to confirm ulcers or
cancer)
 Thyroid and parathyroid (e.g., to check for tumor or abnormal function)
 Heart (e.g., to look for coronary artery disease, myocardial infarction,
valve disease or heart attack; to detect heart transplant rejection; check the
effectiveness of bypass surgery; to select patients for angioplasty or
bypass surgery)
Benefits vs Risk & Cost

 Each exposure to radiation carries its own very small

risk. So, the third or fourth scan you have carries the
exact same risk as the very first.
 The benefit of having a correct diagnosis and
discovering what is going on in your body outweighs the
risk of the exam itself.
 Bone scanning with nuclear medicine can be an
important step in diagnosing and assessing
treatment of

 Various kinds of cancer, including breast cancer, because it can

reveal whether the cancer has spread (metastasized) beyond its
primary site
 Developed secondary cancer growths in the bones.
 On an x-ray, one might see that the bone is not broken, but on a
bone scan, physicians can see metabolic changes caused by fine
fractures,
 Small tumors,
 Degenerative diseases such as arthritis.
 Risks

 Because the doses of radiotracer administered are small, diagnostic nuclear

medicine procedures result in relatively low radiation exposure to the patient,
acceptable for diagnostic exams. Thus, the radiation risk is very low compared
with the potential benefits.
 Nuclear medicine diagnostic procedures have been used for more than five
decades, and there are no known long-term adverse effects from such low-dose
exposure.
 The risks of the treatment are always weighed against the potential benefits for
nuclear medicine therapeutic procedures. You will be informed of all
significant risks prior to the treatment and have an opportunity to ask
questions.
 Risks

 Allergic reactions to radiopharmaceuticals may occur but are extremely rare

and are usually mild. Nevertheless, you should inform the nuclear medicine
personnel of any allergies you may have or other problems that may have
occurred during a previous nuclear medicine exam.
 Injection of the radiotracer may cause slight pain and redness which should
rapidly resolve.
 Women should always inform their physician or radiology technologist if there
is any possibility that they are pregnant or if they are breastfeeding.
 Benefits

 Nuclear medicine examinations provide unique information

—including details on both function and anatomic structure
of the body that is often unattainable using other imaging
procedures.
 For many diseases, nuclear medicine scans yield the most
useful information needed to make a diagnosis or to
determine appropriate treatment, if any.
 Nuclear medicine is less expensive and may yield more
precise information than exploratory surgery.
 Benefits

 Nuclear medicine offers the potential to identify disease

in its earliest stage, often before symptoms occur or
abnormalities can be detected with other diagnostic tests.
 By detecting whether lesions are likely benign or
malignant, PET scans may eliminate the need for surgical
biopsy or identify the best biopsy location PET scans
may provide additional information that is used for
radiation therapy planning.