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If one of your children needs to undergo some specific tests in order to diagnose a medical condition, your consultant may have mentioned the term "nuclear medicine" early on in the discussion phase. If you're like most people, you may never have heard of this option and, just like other people you may be somewhat stressed, as they very word "nuclear" has negative connotations in society. Although you needn't be so worried as this is simply a specialised form of radiology, you will nevertheless want to know what it's all about.
How Does Nuclear Medicine Work?
With this type of imaging, a tiny amount of radioactive medicine is given to the patient in order to diagnose a condition and form a treatment policy. It's perfectly safe to use in this measure and form of procedure and is administered to the body with a special product called a radiopharmaceutical.
There are various different ways to introduce the radiopharmaceutical, including intravenously, through a central line or via a butterfly needle. In other situations, it may be swallowed, inhaled or administered using a catheter depending on the case in question.
Cameras then take images of the radioactive medicine as it passes through the child's body and this allows the professionals to get a much clearer picture of what they are looking at. In short, they want to analyse the function of the body or its physiology and are effectively looking at the process.
Examples
They may be concerned about your child's digestion and want to see how they process their food and may give them something "normal" to eat which has radioactive medicine within. Consequently, they will be able to take images at intervals while the food is being processed to see if everything is all right, or whether some different action may need to be taken.
An alternative scenario would involve analysing the bone structure in a particular area to see if there are any fractures, infections, inflammation or other issues. This is administered through an injection and then travels through the bloodstream and into the bone, where it can be viewed.
Learning More
Everyone involved in administering this type of procedure is very skilled at their job and you have nothing to worry about. If you do have any questions, however, make sure that you talk with your medical consultant and ask them to provide you with more details concerning nuclear medicine.
Share28 September 2018
