Nuclear Scintigraphy uses radioactive labels called radionuclides that are linked to an active marker for a specific physiologic process in the body. This combination is called a radiopharmaceutical, and is injected into the patient. The physiologic marker delivers the radioactive label to an area of interest to the clinician. Employing a special detector called a gamma camera, the gamma rays emitted from the radionuclide are counted, and can be related to organ function.
Common applications include:
- Glomerular Filtration Rate (GFR)
- Shunt detection
- Infection localization
- Liver function
- Bone metabolism (Lameness, metastases)
- Thyroid function
- Mucociliary function
- Cardiac function
