Nuclear medicine test

1. What is nuclear medicine examination?

This is a test that examines the presence or absence of disease by administering drugs that emit radiation (radiopharmaceuticals) into the body and looking at how they accumulate.
Administered radiopharmaceuticals accumulate in specific organs, from which minute amounts of radiation (gamma rays) are emitted.It is captured by a machine (gamma camera) and imaged.Radiation is not emitted from the machine.

2. Requests to patients

• We may ask for dietary restrictions.
• You may have to wait for several hours after injecting the radiopharmaceutical until imaging.
• Radiopharmaceuticals are expensive drugs that cannot be stored.Please be punctual.
• There are no restrictions after inspection.Daily life, such as eating and bathing, is fine.

Please read the manual carefully as the precautions differ depending on the type of inspection.

3. Machine introduction

Discovery NM630

4.Inspection details

Differences from other tests (features)

While CT, MRI, and ultrasonography mainly examine the shape and size (morphology) of organs, nuclear medicine examinations mainly examine the working conditions (functions) of organs.
By using both morphological and functional images, the state of disease can be understood in more detail.
Another strength of nuclear medicine is the ability to obtain standardized (quantitative) images and information.

bone scintigraphy

A test to check for bone lesions.
(Imaging time: 20-30 minutes)
It is possible to examine the bones of the whole body in one examination.

Gallium scintigraphy/SPECT

This is a test to examine the state and distribution of inflammation and tumors.
(Imaging time: 30-60 minutes)
As with bone scintigraphy, it is possible to examine the whole body in a single examination.

Myocardial SPECT

A test for angina pectoris and myocardial infarction.
(Imaging time: 20-40 minutes)
It is possible to examine the viability of the myocardium by applying a load to the heart.

Cerebral blood flow SPECT

This test is performed for cerebrovascular disorders, dementia, degenerative diseases, epilepsy, etc.
(Imaging time: 30-60 minutes)
Abnormal areas can be visualized objectively by comparing data from healthy subjects (statistical image analysis method).

dopamine transporter scintigraphy

This is a test for Parkinson's disease, Lewy body disease, etc.
Imaging time is 30-40 minutes.
It is possible to investigate the distribution density of dopamine transporters by analyzing the accumulation in a region called the striatum in the brain.

myocardial sympathetic nerve scintigraphy

This is a test for Parkinson's disease, Lewy body disease, heart failure, etc.
Imaging time is 20-30 minutes.
By analyzing the degree of accumulation in the chest, it is possible to investigate the function of the sympathetic nerves.