Nuclear Medicine

What is Nuclear Medicine?

• Nuclear Medicine uses very small amounts of radioactive materials (radiopharmaceuticals) to diagnose and treat disease.

• In imaging, 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.

• 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.

Why is it called Nuclear Medicine?

It refers to medicine (a pharmaceutical) that is attached to a small quantity of radioactive material (a radioisotope). This combination is called radiopharmaceutical. There are many different radiopharmaceuticals available to study different parts of the body.

Which radiopharmaceutical is used will depend upon the condition to be diagnosed or treated.

Services Offered:

A. Radioimmunoassay (RIA)/Immunoradiometricassay (IRMA)

THYROID

TSH IRMA
FTA RIA
Thyroglobulin
Anti-thyroglobulin
Anti-TPO (Peroxidase)

OTHERS

17 OH-P

B. Radioactive Iodine Therapy

Hyperthyroidism (Grave’s Disease, solitary autonomous nodule)
Ablation of thyroid remnants after thyroidectomy
Treatment of Metastatic Thyroid Carcinoma

C. Imaging

A gamma camera converts gamma rays into electronic pulses which make up an image.

These pulses are collected over some time and build up a picture of the organ. These pictures are stored on disc and can be viewed and processed at a later date.

Detection of G.I Bleeding
Hepatobiliary Imaging
I-131 Whole Body Scintigraphy
Kidney Investigation
Liver and Spleen Scintigraphy
Lung Perfusion Scintigraphy
Lung Ventilation Scintigraphy
Meckel’s Diverticulum Scintigraphy
Myocardial Perfusion Imaging- Tc99m Sestamibi, Thelium201
Parathyroid Imaging
RBC Tagging
Thyroid Scan- Tc99m, I-131
TI-201 Whole-body Scintigraphy (for Thyroid Malignancy)
Whole Body Bone Scan- Tc99m MDP

D. Urea Breath Test

UBT is currently considered to be the gold standard for non-invasive diagnosis of

H.pylori. It is highly reliable- 95% sensitivity and 100% specificity, for pre- and post-

treatment follow up of infection.

Clinical Applications:

Cardiology

Endocrinology

Gastroenterology

Infection

Nephrology

Oncology

Pulmonary