New nuclear medicine department offers doctors a deeper view of patients

One obvious, major problem facing doctors in reaching a diagnosis or treating a patient is that they cannot see inside the human body. Before the advent of imaging techniques and technology, exploratory surgery was the only method but these days, imaging technology is helping doctors look closer not only at the components of the body but even at the functions of the body.

Dr. Phong Nguyen from the new Nuclear Medicine Department at the American Hospital Dubai, explains:

"Today, some doctors have access to a large range of imaging techniques, including X-rays, MRI scanners, CAT scans, ultrasound and others, each of which has advantages and disadvantages that make them useful for different conditions and different parts of the body. Nuclear medicine is a specialty area of imaging which uses radioactive substances to create images of the body and treat disease, and looks at both the physiology (functioning) and the anatomy of the body in establishing diagnosis and treatment."

Nuclear medicine imaging techniques combine the use of computers, detectors, and radioactive substances and include: Positron emission tomography (PET); Single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT); Cardiovascular imaging; Bone scanning. All of these techniques use different properties of radioactive elements to create images which are useful for detecting tumors, aneurysms (weak spots in blood vessel walls), irregular or inadequate blood flow to various tissues, blood cell disorders and inadequate functioning of organs, such as thyroid and pulmonary function deficiencies.

Dr. Phong Nguyen adds: "Unlike Radiology, which provides physicians with anatomical information, Nuclear Medicine cameras record physiological information. For example, an enlarged lymph node found on a CT scan has many possible causes. Using various Nuclear Medicine tracers, experts can tell whether it is a benign normal variant, an inflammatory node, or metastatic disease. The techniques of Nuclear Medicine complement those of Radiology - each technique filling in the missing information collected by the other."

A typical Nuclear Medicine scan has three steps. First, a radiotracer is administered to the patient either intravenously or orally. Second, there is an uptake period which may last from 15 minutes to 24 hours - this period allows the tracer to circulate and be incorporated into the body's physiology. Third, the patient is scanned. "Certain tests may last only thirty minutes while others may last three to four days because no one organ system physiology is the same as the next. However, the time spent under the camera is quite pleasant, with no associated loud noise or sense of claustrophobia," comments Dr. Phong Nguyen

"Besides diagnosing diseases, the department also treats thyroid disease using Iodine-131. For hyperthyroid patients, the treatment is usually on an outpatient basis, in which the patient takes a pill and goes home the same day. For thyroid cancer patient, the required dose is larger and always necessitates a hospital stay of approximately three days," Dr. Phong Nguyen concludes.