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.

A scan of your entire skeleton takes as long as 60 minutes. The images are digitally generated on a computer and transferred to a nuclear medicine physician who interprets the images to make a diagnosis. Receiving a radioactive injection called a tracer and using a spect machine to scan a specific area of your body. 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.

You ll begin by removing all jewelry. 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 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. A nuclear medicine scan is less expensive and may yield more precise information than exploratory surgery.

Nuclear medicine scans can detect glandular dysfunctions like hyperthyroidism. The machine used to complete the scan looks like a large metal donut with a table coming out of it. A pet scanner is a large machine with a round donut shaped hole in the middle. Spect scans involve two steps.

Nuclear bone scan procedure the first step in the procedure is the injection of the tracer material. Receiving a radioactive substance. Nuclear medicine imaging is a method of producing images by detecting radiation from different parts of the body after a radioactive tracer is given to the patient. Nuclear medicine scans provide the most useful diagnostic or treatment information for many diseases.

A technician will do this through a vein in your arm or hand. These scans use liquid substances called radionuclide s also called tracers or radiopharmaceuticals that release low levels of radiation. You ll receive a radioactive substance through an intravenous iv infusion into a vein in your arm. If you have coronary artery disease it is possible that you could experience chest pain during exercise or when a drug is given.

Nuclear medicine scans provide the most useful diagnostic or treatment information for many diseases. It can also assess how well your heart pumps blood to your body. The test can detect problems with blood flow in the heart tissue and can diagnose ischemic heart disease. A nuclear medicine scan is less expensive and may yield more precise information than exploratory surgery.

Scanning a limited area of your body takes less time.