Nuclear Medicine

Health Resources:

Nuclear Medicine uses tiny amounts of radioactive materials to perform heart studies and diagnose bone cancer, bone infections and stress fractures. The radioactive materials are introduced into the patient’s body by injection, swallowing or inhalation. Special cameras that work with computers detect the radioactive materials to provide sharp images of the body.

Nuclear Medicine involves the use of radioactive tracers in evaluating a wide variety of normal and abnormal body functions and in treating certain diseases. The Nuclear Medicine department at NLMC offers a full range of nuclear imaging procedures. Cardiology, Pulmonary, Skeletal, Gastrointestinal, and Endocrine imaging studies are among the most common. Licensed technologists perform the studies, which are then interpreted by Board Certified Radiologists. The Nuclear Medicine department performs imaging with a GE Millennium MG camera and a GE Millennium MPS camera.

Nuclear Medicine imaging scans are performed to:

• Analyze kidney function;
• Visualize heart blood flow and function (such as a myocardial perfusion scan);
• Identify inflammation in the gallbladder;
• Locate the presence of infection;
• Measure thyroid function to detect an overactive or underactive thyroid;
• Evaluate bones for fractures, infection, arthritis and tumors;
• Determine the presence or spread of cancer in various parts of the body;
• Investigate abnormalities in the brain, such as seizures, memory loss and abnormalities in blood flow;
• Localize the lymph nodes before surgery in patients with breast cancer or melanoma.

Further information about Nuclear Medicine, including ways to prepare for the examination, can be obtained by calling Sheri Burns, NLMC Director of Radiology at 318-254-2461 or by logging on to http://www.radiologyinfo.org.

If you are a physician, in need of scheduling a patient, please call Central Scheduling at 318-254-2791.