Nuclear Medicine and What to Expect as a Patient
Nuclear medicine can also be used in evaluating the causes of endocrine hypertension when MRI and CT cannot detect a mass in the glands of patients with high suspicion of the condition.
Do I Have to Take Any Medication?
Nuclear medicine uses a radioactive material called a radiopharmaceutical. This material is provided for the patient most commonly as an injection into the bloodstream. It can also be swallowed or inhaled as a gas.
How Will the Procedure Go?
If nuclear medicine imaging is recommended, the patient is asked to lie down on the examination table once the radiopharmaceutical has been administered and has accumulated in the body. From there, a scanner or a camera will take a series of images as it rotates around the patient. The length of time for nuclear medicine procedures vary, depending on the type of exam. Scanning time can take from 20 minutes to several hours and can even be conducted over several days.
Will It Hurt?
Nuclear medicine imaging itself causes no pain but it is highly essential that the patient must remain still during the process, and this may cause slight discomfort for the patient. Nuclear medicine imaging is considered a non-invasive and relatively safe procedure as the level of radiation dose received by the patient is about the same as the dose given during a routine chest x-ray or CT scan which is not a lot as explained here.
What Do I Do After the Exam?
The patient is advised for the next couple of hours or days after the procedure to drink plenty of water so that the material inserted into the body loses its radioactivity over time, and flushes out of the body through the urinary tract.
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