Radionuclide Imaging Essay

Radionuclide Imaging

Radionuclide imaging is a process of scanning body using the elements that emit radiations. They are mixed with the chemical compounds, and these compounds get concentrated in the parts of body which are infected or the diseased areas of the body. The device known as GAMMA CAMERA produces an image to locate the Radionuclide particle.

It is a technique of imaging the parts of body like various organs, bones, brain, etc. by using small doses of radioactive chemical particles which depends on the part of body is introduced for scanning. A Radionuclide is also known as a radioisotope which is a chemical and emits radioactivity known as gamma rays. A very little amount of radionuclide is inserted into the body by various ways like it is injected into the vein,

The time interval between the pictures also varies depending upon the organ which is scanned. While in the bone scans and the cardio scans three to four or even more pictures are needed while in some cases even a single picture is sufficient to carry out the diagnosis. The time interval between each picture may also be of an hour or more. But sometimes or in some cases it may be a short process only of few hours.

Few examples of radionuclide scans:

• A very common and known type is a bone scan. This radionuclide which is inserted is allowed to get collected in the active area of the particular bone. And detects the damage, disorder, cancer, or fracture caused. These particular areas are known as hotspots in the computer image.

• In a kidney scan it detects the working of kidney and any disorders or dysfunctions in the kidney, or the foreign particles like kidney stone.

• In a cardio scan or heart scan the blood flow in the direction of heart muscle is pictured. And also the blood clots in the veins and arteries can be recognized.

• In thyroid scans to detect the over active regions in thyroid gland and the case known as