Nuclear Medicine

Nuclear medicine images provide functional information and can help to determine the severity of a variety of diseases, including many types of cancers, heart disease, gastrointestinal disease, endocrine problems, neurological disorders and other abnormalities within the body. Because nuclear medicine procedures are able to precisely locate molecular activity within the body, these imaging procedures offer the potential to identify disease in its earliest stages as well as a patient’s immediate response to possible therapeutic interventions.

Diagnosis, Therapy and Trained Technologists

Nuclear medicine imaging is noninvasive and, with the exception of intravenous injections, are usually painless medical tests. These imaging studies use radioactive materials called radiopharmaceuticals or radiotracers.

The radiotracer is either injected into the body, swallowed, or inhaled as a gas, and eventually accumulates in the area of the body being examined. Radioactive emissions from the radiotracer are detected by a gamma camera, which is an imaging device for nuclear medicine that produces images.  

Therapy
Nuclear medicine also offers therapeutic procedures, such as radioactive iodine (I-131) therapy, which uses small amounts of radioactive material to treat cancer and other medical conditions affecting the thyroid gland, as well as treatments for other cancers.

Trained nuclear medicine technologists
Nuclear medicine technologists are specially trained in the handling of radiopharmaceutics, and are licensed by the Massachusetts Department of Radiation Control. All technologists are certified by the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists and are Certified Nuclear Medicine Technologists.

We are located on CMP5. Our hours of operation are 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., with limited on call hours for emergencies.

 

Radiologyinfo.org for Patients

The radiology information resource for patients. RadiologyInfo.org tells you how various X-ray, CT, MRI, ultrasound, radiation therapy and other procedures are performed. It also addresses what you may experience and how to prepare for the exams. The website contains over 200 procedure, exam and disease descriptions covering diagnostic and interventional radiology, nuclear medicine, radiation therapy and radiation safety and is updated frequently with new information. All material on the RadiologyInfo.org website is reviewed and approved by experts in the field of radiology from the ACR and RSNA, as well as other professional radiology organizations.

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