Nuclear Medicine Department

Nuclear medicine is a medical discipline that uses open radiation for diagnosis and therapy of diseases after application into the body of the patient (i.v., p.o., i.d., ventilation, intra-articular application). The most frequently used radioisotope is technetium-99m, less frequently Krypton 81m, Indium 111, Yttrium 90, Samarium 153, always with a specific carrier.

Nuclear medicine methods provide information on the function or metabolism of certain organs and tissues (e.g. brain perfusion, presence of functional nodes in the thyroid gland, parathyroid enlargement, lung perfusion and ventilation, myocardial perfusion, shape, size and localization of the kidneys with detection of parenchymal function and drainage of the calcium-renal system, changes in bone structure and metabolism).
All nuclear medicine examinations are highly sensitive but non-specific. The main imaging device is the so-called gamma camera, which detects the distribution of the administered radiopharmaceutical in the organs under examination.

The examination can be performed in planar mode (static or dynamic) and SPECT (Single Photon Emission Computer Tomography) mode. In this way, information can be obtained not only on the planar distribution of the radiopharmaceutical in organs and tissues, but also on the spatial distribution (coronal, transaxial, sagittal or rotational MIP sections).
For a more precise localization of pathological findings of scintigraphic examinations, hybrid SPECT/CT imaging is used, where in indicated cases (see MP 037) the scintigraphic examination is immediately followed by CT imaging of selected areas. The two findings are then fused by software into a single scan and the nuclear medicine physician and the radiologist are involved in the description of the findings and the conclusion of the SPECT/CT scan is the result of the evaluation of the pathological changes by both methods.