Nuclear Scan Machine

A nuclear heart scan is an imaging test that uses special cameras and a radioactive substance called a tracer to create pictures of your heart.

Nuclear scan machine.

These scans use liquid substances called radionuclide s also called tracers or radiopharmaceuticals that release low levels of radiation. During the scan you ll be asked to lie still on a table while a machine with an arm like device supporting the gamma camera passes over your body to record the pattern of tracer absorption by your bones. Nuclear medicine scans provide the most useful diagnostic or treatment information for many diseases. Scanning a limited area of your body takes less time.

A technician will do this through a vein in your arm or hand. Nuclear bone scan procedure the first step in the procedure is the injection of the tracer material. Receiving a radioactive substance. It can also assess how well your heart pumps blood to your body.

The machine used to complete the scan looks like a large metal donut with a table coming out of it. A nuclear medicine scan is less expensive and may yield more precise information than exploratory surgery. Nuclear medicine scans provide the most useful diagnostic or treatment information for many diseases. Receiving a radioactive injection called a tracer and using a spect machine to scan a specific area of your body.

It looks similar to a ct or mri unit. A scan of your entire skeleton takes as long as 60 minutes. The tracer dose is very small. A pet scanner is a large machine with a round donut shaped hole in the middle.

A nuclear medicine scan is less expensive and may yield more precise information than exploratory surgery. The test can detect problems with blood flow in the heart tissue and can diagnose ischemic heart disease. Spect scans involve two steps. The machine involved in this sort of test tends to be somewhat cavernous and patients must usually lie on their backs and be inserted into or covered completely by the scanning device.

Nuclear scans make pictures based on the body s chemistry like metabolism rather than on physical shapes and forms as is the case with other imaging tests. You may be required to change into a hospital gown. You ll receive a radioactive substance through an intravenous iv infusion into a vein in your arm. You ll begin by removing all jewelry.

Nuclear medicine scans can detect glandular dysfunctions like hyperthyroidism.