Nuclear Medicine is a safe and painless imaging technology that uses radioactive tracers and a special camera to visualize the structure and function of an organ, tissue, bone or system of the body.

• Nuclear Medicine Exams at TRA

  TRA offers a number of nuclear medicine imaging exams to diagnose illnesses and abnormalities. Small amounts of radiation are used, and the radiation exposure from nuclear medicine procedures is comparable to that received from x-ray procedures.

• Find TRA locations for Nuclear Medicine

  Search TRA Locations TRA-on Cedar (Tacoma)

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• What is Nuclear Medicine and How Does It Work?

• In nuclear medicine, an organ or tissue is examined by attaching a radioactive tracer to a compound that targets that specific area of the body.

  

  Some common nuclear medicine procedures include: bone scans to determine the cause of musculoskeletal pain or to detect metastasis in cancer patients; thyroid scans to evaluate enlarged glands (goiter) and to help manage thyroid hormone imbalances; and biliary scans to detect bile obstruction or gallbladder dysfunction. TRA offers many types of nuclear medicine exams, and we are one of the few practices in the area to provide thyroid and Zevalin therapies.

  

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• SPECT Imaging

• Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) is an imaging technique which produces 3-dimensional image data by acquiring images with the nuclear medicine camera from multiple projections around the body and performing computer reconstruction. The resulting volume of image data can be separated into slices to display the anatomy from whichever angle is most advantageous.

  The SPECT technique is routinely used for myocardial perfusion imaging, brain scans, parathyroid scans, and liver scans. It has many applications for bone scanning and is used in several tumor localization procedures.

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• What to Expect During a Nuclear Medicine Exam

• All nuclear medicine exams use radioactive tracer compounds. The tracer compounds are usually injected into a vein in the arm, but for some procedures the tracer will be ingested or inhaled.

  

  Most exams take one to two hours, although some may take longer, and some require more than one visit. You will be asked to lie still while the gamma-ray detecting camera is in use.

  

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• How to Prepare for a Nuclear Medicine Exam

• Wear comfortable, loose clothing. You may be asked to change into a gown. Some nuclear medicine exams may have particular requirements; instructions will be given to you when you schedule your appointment.

Types of Nuclear Medicine Exams

Select Type Bone scans Biliary scans (also called HIDA scan or gallbladder scan) Cardiac blood pool (also called MUGA or gated cardiac scan) Gastric emptying study Thyroid uptake and scan Ventilation and perfusion lung scan ProstaScint

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• Bone scans

• Bone scans begin with an intravenous (IV) injection in your vein of a radioactive tracer that is absorbed into your bones within a few hours.

  

  Areas of bone damage such as fracture, infection, tumor, and arthritis will appear as brighter spots in the scan image. There are several variations on bone scans used for different purposes.

  • Whole body bone scans survey the entire skeleton. Cancer patients with possible spread to bone (metastasis) will receive whole body scans.
  • Limited area or multiple area bone scans are used to evaluate the cause of musculoskeletal pain in specific body parts.
  • Three phase bone scans include imaging at the time of tracer injection to evaluate blood flow to the area of interest, as well as imaging several hours later which show eventual absorption of the tracer. This method is used when bone infection is a concern.
  • SPECT bone scans are scans of a limited area using an advanced technique to produce a three-dimensional image of the bone. See the section on SPECT imaging for more information.

  

  • Please drink 16 ounces of fluid before your exam.

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• Biliary scans

• Biliary scans (also called HIDA or gallbladder scans) check for flow of bile into the intestine and test how well the gallbladder is functioning.

  

  A radioactive tracer injected intravenously (IV) makes its way through the bile ducts, gallbladder, and intestine. Progressive images of the tracer reveal whether or not the movement of bile is normal.

  

  • Please do not eat or drink for 4 hours prior to the appointment.

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• Cardiac blood pool

• Cardiac blood pool (also called MUGA or gated cardiac scan) evaluates cardiac pumping efficiency by analyzing a series of images of the heart’s left ventricle at various stages of expansion and contraction to determine the percentage of blood pumped out of the heart during each beat and whether any segment of the heart muscle is contracting poorly.

  

  A small sample of the patient’s blood is withdrawn from an arm vein and a radioactive tracer is attached to the red blood cells. The patient will also be attached to an electrocardiogram (ECG) monitor. The red blood cells are re-injected into the patient, and the left ventricular blood pool can be visualized with the nuclear medicine camera.

  

  • Only a light snack 2 hours prior, do not eat a heavy meal. Check in 30 minutes prior to appointment.

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• Gastric emptying study

• A gastric emptying study is a very simple procedure that examines the rate at which food empties from the stomach into the intestines.

  

  The test starts with the patient eating two scrambled eggs which have a safe, tasteless radioactive tracer mixed in. The nuclear camera will show the progress of the eggs through the stomach; this takes approximately two hours.

  

  • Please do not eat or drink for 8 hours prior to the appointment.

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• Thyroid uptake and scan

• Thyroid uptake and scan examines thyroid function by measuring how much radioactive iodine has accumulated in the gland 24 hours after ingestion of a tracer.

  

  The uptake measurement is done with a special camera, which uses images to determine the distribution of the tracer within the thyroid. The resulting pictures reveal size and shape, and show if any one portion of the thyroid has a greater or lesser uptake than the rest of the gland.

  

  • Nothing to eat or drink 4 hours prior to scan. No thyroid medications 4 weeks prior. No IV contrast for 4 weeks prior.

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• Ventilation and perfusion lung scan (also called VQ Lung)

• This two-part scan is performed to detect pulmonary emboli (blood clots in the lung).

  

  The perfusion scan is used to detect blood supply in the lungs. A radio-tracer is injected into an arm vein and distributes throughout the lung. Pulmonary emboli cause one or more areas to receive diminished blood supply, and the scan shows absent or diminished radio-tracer in these same areas.

  The ventilation scan evaluates air supply throughout the lungs. The patient breathes through a mouthpiece connected to a nebulizer and inhales a mist which contains the radio-tracer. Tracer will be found wherever the lung is well ventilated. Because areas of chronic airflow obstruction will eventually develop diminished blood flow, the ventilation images help the radiologist to accurately distinguish blood flow reduction caused by airway obstruction from blood flow reduction caused by blood clots.

  

  • No prep is usually required.

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• ProstaScint

• The ProstaScint scan looks for prostate cancer metastasis in (1) newly diagnosed patients who are considered to be at high risk for pelvic lymph node metastasis; and (2) post-prostatectomy patients with a rising PSA who are being evaluated for occult metastasis.

  

  ProstaScint uses a tracer compound consisting of a radioactive marker and a monoclonal antibody which selectively binds to a protein found on the surface of prostate cancer cells. The patient receives an intravenous injection of the tracer and scanning is performed four days later.

  The accuracy of the procedure is greatly enhanced by fusing the ProstaScint images to pelvic CT images. TRA has invested in the computer processing capability to perform this image fusion and is interpreted by our team of experienced Nuclear Medicine radiologists.

  

  • No prep is usually required.