Nuclear Medicine scan

Patient information

The patients, in most cases, have an intravenous injection of a small volume of radiopharmaceutical. Alternative methods of administration are by inhalation or oral ingestion. Depending on the requirements of the scan, the patient may have images taken immediately or after a longer period of time, typically 3 to 5 hours.

The machines on which Nuclear Medicine scans are performed are called Gamma Cameras. These Gamma Cameras do not emit ionising radiation as compared to conventional x-ray machines and are merely very sophisticated radiation detectors. In most cases, all that is required of the patient is to lie supine (on their back) on the bed. Either the bed will slowly move between the detectors, the detectors will themselves move around the patient or there will be a combination of both.

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Scan process

  1. The patient attends for their appointment or to make an appointment. It is very important that a Request Slip or Referral Letter accompany the patient as the test may be unnecessarily delayed. If it is to make an appointment, then appropriate instructions are given by the staff.
  2. The patient may be referred to the Nursing Staff for assessment and preparation prior to the test. Alternatively, the patient may be directed to the Nuclear Medicine Technologist who will Commence the test.
  3. The duration of the test depends on the type of investigation requested. The patient may be administered the radiopharmaceutical and scanned three to five hours later or in some cases, twenty four and forty eight hours later! Other tests may require images to be obtained immediately at administration time and up to an hour.
  4. At the completion of the entire scan, the Technologist processes the data and images and these are presented to the Medical Staff for reportin
  5. The Nuclear Medicine Registrar under the supervision of the Nuclear Medicine Consultant view these and any other images, for example, past scans or correlative imaging techniques and dictate the report. Urgent results are always rung through.
  6. The report is then typed by the Office Administrative Staff and then passed for final approval to the Registrar and Consultant. On their authority, the report may be electronically sent to the referring doctor or posted in the conventional manner. patients referred privately, if necessary, may request to take their scan and report with themselves.
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