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Nuclear Medicine in Medical Oncology
Virginia
Nuclear medicine is a specialty, which uses safe, painless,
and cost-effective techniques both to image the body and
treat disease. Nuclear medicine is unique in that it documents
organ function and structure. In contrast, other diagnostic
imaging modalities are based on anatomy. We are able to
gather information that may otherwise be unavailable,
require surgery or necessitate more expensive testing.
Nuclear medicine is an integral part of patient care.
It is used in the diagnosis, management, treatment and
prevention of serious disease. Nuclear medicine imaging
often identifies abnormalities very early in the progression
of a disease – long before some medical problems
are apparent with other diagnostic tests. This early detection
allows a disease to be treated early in its course when
there may be a more successful prognosis.
Nuclear medicine uses very small amounts of radioactive
materials, or radiopharmaceuticals, to diagnose and treat
disease. Radiopharmaceuticals are introduced into the
body by injection, inhalation or ingestion. Once in the
body they are attracted to specific organs or disease
processes. A special type of camera, a gamma camera, is
used to take a picture. This picture provides valuable
information for your doctor to use in the management of
your care. Nuclear medicine procedures are among the safest
diagnostic imaging exams available.
A patient only receives an extremely small amount of radiopharmaceutical,
just enough to provide sufficient diagnostic information.
In fact, the amount of radiation from a nuclear medicine
procedure is comparable to or often times less than that
of a diagnostic x-ray. |
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