Nuclear medicine (scintigraphy) refers to the use of radioactive substances for examination and treatment purposes.

The radiopharmaceutical – the radioactive substance or the chemical compound containing the radioactive substance and other materials – is usually injected into a vein in the arm. It spreads through the body via the blood, and accumulates in the desired organ, depending on the type of the substance used.

In a conventional nuclear medical diagnosis, most of the substances used have a short half-life (hours to days), and emit gamma rays which can be measured very accurately from outside the body. Images of these organs can be produced using a special camera (gamma camera). The most commonly used isotope is technetium-99 m (Tc-99 m) with a short half-life of 6 hours.

Scintigraphy – this nuclear medical imaging procedure primarily establishes the function of an organ or organ system, unlike morphological imaging procedures (radiography, CT, MRI), which mainly show the structure.

Because the radiation dose in nuclear medicine examinations is low, there are no significant restrictions. However, examinations involving radioactive substances should be avoided during pregnancy.

At our centre, we offer all common types of nuclear medicine examinations.