Nuclear Med offers a wide variety of studies. The majority of studies require the patient to be injected with a radioactive isotope.
Depending on the study there might be a waiting time before the scan (allowing the isotope enough time to gather in the particular study site). The patient will then be scanned at least once, depending on the study. Please note: a number of the appointment will require patients to return to Nuclear Med repeatedly for up to two days. Please familiarise yourself with the requirements as the radioactive isotopes have sepcific window periods in which they can be scanned
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MUGA (Multiple Gated Acquisition)
No preparation for the scan is required
This test is useful before & after chemotherapy, and to assess other heart diseases. Useful to investigate left ventricular function, to assess drug effects in patients with LV disorders and to predict prognosis in patients with coronary artery disease. The study can be performed at "rest", or under "stress" conditions to examine LV response to known stress levels. A simple study can generally be completed in about one hour.
Labeled red blood cells circulating the body are imaged in the left ventricle. At the same time the patient's ECG is used to "gate" the imaging data. The combined data are displayed as a single heart cycle and the left ventricle ejection fraction can be calculated.
Used to assess:
Heart functionCheck the size and motion of the left ventricle
Patients will need to be referred to Nuclear Med by a referring doctor. Patients must select the specific scan/study required by their referring doctor and book an appointment at the most convenient location.
Checklist:
Medical aid authorisation (referring doctor to provide patient with specific ICD 10 code for medical aid authorisation)
Referring doctor’s name and practice number
Newly diagnosed oncology patients may need to register for oncology (referring doctor to facilitate registration)
