Nuclear Medicine

Nuclear medicine takes advanced imaging to new heights. At Radiology Imaging Associates in Aurora, Colorado, the foremost team of board-certified nuclear medicine specialists offers patients and physicians convenient procedures using state-of-the-art approaches. Nuclear medicine provides answers and helps doctors plan treatments more effectively.

What is nuclear medicine?

Nuclear medicine is an advanced approach to diagnosis, evaluation, and treatment of many conditions and diseases. 

With nuclear medicine procedures, a painless injection delivers radiotracers — tiny amounts of radioactive materials — into your bloodstream. There are also other methods of taking in radiotracers, for example, orally, based on the procedure.

Those radiotracers combine with advanced imaging procedures to provide highly detailed information from within your body. 

What diagnostic procedures does nuclear medicine include?

Some of the diagnostic nuclear medicine procedures at Radiology Imaging Associates include: 

Bone scan

A bone scan looks for the cause of bone pain. This nuclear medicine procedure can help diagnose conditions such as fractures, bone cancer, arthritis, and bone infections.

Gastric emptying study (GES)

A GES determines how long it takes your stomach to empty into the next part of your digestive system (the small intestine). This test can evaluate too-slow or too-fast stomach emptying and help find the cause of issues like abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and bloating.

Glomerular filtration rate (GFR)

GFR evaluates how effectively the filters within your kidneys remove waste products from your blood. The procedure can screen for kidney disease, find out whether the kidneys are the cause of symptoms, determine the severity of kidney disease, and monitor people who are in kidney treatment.

Hepatobiliary scan

A hepatobiliary scan checks bile duct, gallbladder, and liver function. This scan can detect conditions like gallbladder inflammation and biliary leaks. You may need this scan if you have symptoms like severe abdominal pain on the right side of your body.'

Positron emission tomography (PET)

PET scans assess organ and tissue function. It can detect abnormal activity and is more detailed than a CT scan. It’s most often used to detect cancer and assess the effectiveness of cancer treatments. 

Thyroid uptake scan

A thyroid uptake scan evaluates your thyroid gland in detail. It can assess thyroid function and diagnose problems like hyperthyroidism, inflammation, and nodules. 

What happens after my nuclear medicine procedure?

After your procedure, the leading radiologists at Radiology Imaging Associates provide detailed information about your results and what they mean. Your doctor has access to your radiology records online at all times, and they can reach out to a radiologist 24/7 to discuss your case. 

Radiology Imaging Associates is the trusted leader in nuclear medicine procedures in Colorado and around the country. Call the office or schedule an appointment online today.