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Read MoreNuclear medicine imaging can help physicians diagnose and treat a number of conditions that affect how your organs function. Our facilities, including our outpatient AMI at Inspira locations, are here to provide you with nuclear medicine imaging when you need it most, close to home in South Jersey.
What is Nuclear Medicine Imaging?
While traditional X-rays and CT scans give physicians a look at the anatomy of your body, nuclear imaging allows physicians to see how your organs function in order to diagnose a variety of conditions and determine a treatment plan. It can help diagnose and treat conditions and disorders in the blood, thyroid, gallbladder, heart, lungs, bones and kidneys.
Nuclear imaging can also be used in the treatment of certain conditions and to evaluate how well treatment is working, such as in radioimmunotherapy.
How Nuclear Medicine Imaging Works
During nuclear medicine imaging, you will receive a radioactive tracer, either injected into a vein or taken orally. Once the substance reaches the organ being examined, the radionuclide emits high-energy gamma particles. As these particles exit your body, they are detected by a gamma camera, and the energy is analyzed by a computer—this is what produces the images that physicians use to evaluate your health conditions.
What to Expect When You Have a Nuclear Imaging Test
Prior to your nuclear medicine test, your care team will go over any specific requirements you will have for the day of the test. You will be given a radioactive tracer intravenously, by mouth or through an inhaled substance. Once the tracer is in your system, you will lie down on a table under a gamma camera that will detect radiation coming from your body.
Nuclear imaging tests usually last for about 30 minutes to an hour. When you visit AMI at Inspira outpatient locations, you can go home and resume your normal activities immediately.
