NUCLEAR MEDICINE
Nuclear Medicine Unit; Is on the minus first floor of the main hospital building.
Nuclear medicine is a branch of medicine that provides diagnosis by monitoring and counting the gamma rays emitted by radioactive substances intravenously injected into the body. It is also For imaging, a chemical (pharmaceutical) is bound to a low level radioactive material (radioisotope). This combination is called 'radiopharmaceutical. A wide variety of organ-specific radiopharmaceuticals are used to display different organs. The device used for imaging is called a 'gamma camera.' Increased glycolytic rate in tumor cells is the basis of PET imaging with the most commonly used FDG today. It detects changes in metabolic activity in the tumor tissue and provides quantitative evaluation of cellular function. The semiquantitative technique used in the evaluation is the standard uptake value (SUV) measurement.
Major Diagnosis and Treatment Methods used in Nuclear Medicine
-
Conventional Scintigraphic Methods
- PET-CT (FDG and Ga 68-DOTA-TATE with Ga-68 PSMA)
- Diagnosis and theranostic treatment of differentiated thyroid cancer, hyperthyroidism and
- Other Applied Treatment Methods
- Palliative pain treatment in metastatic cancers
- Radiosynovectomy
- Immunotherapy with monoclonal antibodies in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
- Radium-223 treatment in the treatment of metastatic bone diseases.
- Polycythemia vera - phosphorus 32 treatment.
PET / MRI
It is a high resolution hybrid method which allows PET and MR images to be taken simultaneously by inserting PET detectors and electronics into a 3 tesla MR device. Soft tissue contrast is high. Radiation exposure is lower compared to PET / CT. While it facilitates the detection of metastasis in organs, it provides an advantage in brain imaging, diagnosis and staging of most malignancies.
Services in department of Nuclear Medicine Unit are provided by nuclear medicine specialist, radiology technician, paramedics, secretary and assistant personnel.
Bone Mineral Density Measurement
It is another diagnostic method of Nuclear Medicine department. Using DEXA device, it is used in the evaluation and follow-up of fracture risk in diagnosis of osteoporosis which is an important health problem worldwide. Low bone mineral density is associated with increased fracture risk. To determine the risk of future bone fracture and to monitor the response to osteoporosis treatment.
In the Adiyaman Training and Research Hospital, the Department of Nuclear Medicine provides conventional scintigraphic methods, bone densitometry measurement and polyclinic services on the ground floor of the hospital.
Conventional scintigraphic shots are predominantly myocardial perfusion scintigraphy and nuclear cardiology methods including myocardial gated spect and three-dimensional imaging.
Other most used methods are ;
- Three-phase and whole-body bone scintigraphy in the diagnosis and follow-up of benign and malignant skeletal system diseases,
- Dynamic and static renal scintigraphy for functional renal assessment and follow-up, upper urinary system dilatation and obstruction evaluation, diagnosis of acute pyelonephritis, evaluating renal scars and detecting congenital renal anomalies,
- Evaluation of pulmonary embolism, lung perfusion and ventilation scintigraphy for calculating differential lung function before surgery,
- Thyroid scintigraphy and thyroid uptake test to detect the presence and function of the thyroid gland, parathyroid scintigraphy in parathyroid adenoma and hyperplasia,
- Gastrointestinal reflux scintigraphy in the presence of persistent vomiting and respiratory system symptoms especially in infants and children,
- Meckel scintigraphy for the detection of meckel diverticulum,
- Selective splenic scintigraphy for visualization of accessory spleen,
- Dacryoscintigraphy to show tear duct obstruction.
Myocardial Perfusion Scintigraphy
It allows the distribution of the blood supply to the myocardium to be demonstrated by an intravenously administered radiopharmaceutical.
Presence, extent and severity of myocardial ischemia or scar, the effect of coronary stenosis detected by on angiography on regional perfusion, risk assessment after myocardial infarction and beforen non-cardiac surgery, and differentiation of coronary and non-coronary causes in acute chest pain syndrome are some of the indications.
The synchronized form of myocardial perfusion scintigraphy is called gated SPECT.
Gated technique has two major contributions to MPS. The first is to calculate the left ventricular volumes and ejection fraction with the application of gated SPECT, to evaluate the regional wall movements. The second is to increase the diagnostic accuracy of the method by recognizing the artefacts due to attenuation.
In SPECT analysis, three-dimensional images are obtained from each set of two-dimensional images by reconstruction techniques.
Sites in the Nuclear Medicine Unit
A-Controlled Areas in Nuclear Medicine Unit:
- Shooting Room (Double-head gamma camera)
-Effort Room
- Leaded Room
- Iodine Treatment and Waiting Room
- Hot Room (Radioactive material preparation)
-Injection Room
B-Supervised Areas in Nuclear Medicine Unit:
-Thyroid Polyclinic Room
-Viewing Room
-Advice
-Waiting room