Isotope Study
Alternate Names : Nuclear Medicine Scan, Nuclear Radiography, PET Scan, Radioactive Uptake, Radioisotope, Radionuclide Organ Imaging, Scintillation
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How is the Test Performed?
A radioactive isotope needs to be introduced into the body. This may be done in several ways:
- Through a needle into a vein (usually the inside of the elbow).
- Through a catheter, that is inserted into a vein or artery and is then guided to the organ being tested.
- Ingestion (for example, to test the thyroid, the patient drinks radioactive iodine).
- Subcutaneous injection (under the skin)
- Collecting a patient's own blood from a vein, adding the radioisotope compound in a laboratory, and then injecting back into the patient.
After a certain period of time has passed (ranging from a few hours to a day or more for different exams), you will be placed on a table (called a gantry) under the scanner, which may rotate around the body. Is it imperative that you remain still to produce accurate and useful sets of images. For some tests, a counter is placed over the organ, and the amount of radioactivity or intensity of radioactivity is recorded.
A technician interprets the information as it is transmitted to the computer and can guide the camera to specific locations to improve the imaging.
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