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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Whole Body Bone Scan and Spec
A bone scan can be used to look at the functioning of the patient’s bones and, unlike an X-ray, examines the metabolism of the patient’s bones, which may indicate disease:
No preparation for the scan is required. Patient to please bring along any previous x-rays and bone scans.
The patient will be injected with a radioactive tracer (99m Technetium MDP), which goes to your skeleton. Some images may be taken right after the injection, particularly the study is looking for an infection, inflammation or fracture.
The patient will be asked to return to Nuclear Med approximately 2-5 hours later, depending on the area of interest (the smaller the bone structures the longer the waiting period). This wait enables the tracer to be adequately taken up by the skeleton. The patient may leave the department in this time and there are no restrictions on what they can do (eg. eat, drink), the patient will be encouraged to drink plenty of fluids and void their bladder before the next scan.
When the patient returns, images will be taken using a gamma camera and these images plus a written report will be sent to the referring doctor.
Used to diagnose:
Suspected fracturesArthritisInfectionTumoursPaget's DiseaseStaging of cancerThe cause of bone pain
Symptom or Suspected Disease
Occult bone traumaOsteomyelitisArthritic changes & extentLocalise sites for biopsy of tumoursMeasure extent of tumoursIdentify bone pathologyCell diseaseMetastatic site identificationSuspected fractureInfectionPaget's diseaseBone pain
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)
