Nuclear Medicine Scans

Nuclear Medicine Scans are often used to help diagnose and treat abnormalities very early in the progression of a disease. Some of the more common tests include the following:
Renal Scans - used to examine the kidneys and to detect any abnormalities, suchas tumors or obstruction of the renal blood flow.
Thyroid Scans - used to evaluate thyroid function.
Bone Scans - used to evaluate any degenerative and/or arthritic changes in the joints, to detect bone diseases and tumors, and/or to determine the cause of bone pain or inflammation.
Gallium Scans - used to diagnose active infectious and/or inflammatory diseases, tumors and abscesses.
Hepatobiliary Scan - checks for abnormalities in your liver and gallbladder.

Nuclear medicine is a safe, painless, and effective form of medical imaging which has been used worldwide for more than 60 years. This area of radiology uses small amounts of radioactive material (sometimes called a dose) to image the body and treat disease. Nuclear medicine is different than other areas of radiology because it looks at how a body part is working, not just what it looks like. A nuclear medicine exam will allow your doctors to gather medical information about your body that otherwise may not be available. The radiation exposure to your body from nuclear
medicine is very small, in most cases less than or equal to an x-ray.