3-nuclear-imagingNuclear imaging is a branch of medical imaging that uses small amounts of radioactive material (tracer) to diagnose a variety of diseases, including many types of cancers, heart diseases, gastrointestinal, endocrine, neurological disorders and other abnormalities within the body. Because nuclear imaging procedures are able to pinpoint molecular activity within the body, they offer the potential to identify disease in its earliest stages as well as a patient’s immediate response to therapeutic interventions. Nuclear imaging procedures are invasive which means that the tracer is usually administered intravenously, rarely orally, taken with food or inhaled. The tracer travels with the blood stream to the area of interest (specific body organ), then the external detectors (gamma cameras) capture and form images from the radiation emitted by the radiopharmaceuticals.

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