Nuclear Medicine

Nuclear medicine is one speciality that both finds disease and treats it. Using a tracer that shows how your organs are working, we can spot problems early and, for some conditions, deliver treatment directly to diseased cells. You reach this service through the specialist already caring for you.

What is nuclear medicine?

Nuclear medicine is the speciality that uses a small amount of a radioactive material, called a tracer, to show how your body is working. You have the tracer as an injection, a drink or a gas you breathe in, and a specialised camera picks up the signal it gives off. Where an X-ray or CT scan shows the shape of an organ, nuclear medicine shows how well it's functioning. The same tracers can also deliver targeted treatment.

Who has a nuclear medicine scan or treatment?

Nuclear medicine is a referral service, so you'll usually come to us through another specialist who's already looking after you. You might be referred if you are:

• Having tests for cancer or planning cancer treatment
• Being checked for heart disease or exercise-related chest pain
• Living with a thyroid condition, such as an overactive thyroid
• Having a kidney, lung or bone problem investigated
• Being assessed for a hormone-producing or neuroendocrine tumour

Because there's no symptom that sends you here directly, you won't book nuclear medicine yourself. A specialist looking after you, such as a cardiologist, oncologist or endocrinologist, decides when it will help and sends the request to us. We then work closely with your team to ensure that the appropriate examination or treatment is selected and that the results are integrated into your overall care.

What to expect

On the day, we give you the tracer, usually as a small injection, and you wait while it travels through your body. The wait varies: a bone scan needs a few hours, a thyroid scan much less. You then lie still while the camera moves slowly around you to build the pictures. The scan itself doesn't hurt, and the small amount of radiation leaves your body relatively quickly and naturally.

If your specialist has recommended a nuclear medicine treatment, this works in a similar way. You're given a radioactive medicine to swallow or as an injection. It then travels to the cells that have specific characteristics, allowing the treatment to be concentrated where it is needed. Some treatments mean a short stay with a few simple radiation-safety precautions afterwards. Your team explains each step and agrees the plan with you.

Nuclear medicine at Mediclinic

At Mediclinic, our nuclear medicine teams sit within our cancer centres and work alongside the specialists who refer you. Our imaging combines a tracer scan with a CT scan in a single visit, using PET-CT and SPECT-CT. This combines information about biological activity and anatomy in a single examination.

Our services cover a broad range of diagnostic and therapeutic applications. These include PET-CT imaging for cancer, cardiac and bone imaging, thyroid investigations and treatment, and targeted radionuclide therapies for selected cancers.

Alongside these scans, we treat certain conditions with the same approach: radioactive iodine for thyroid problems is one example, and we also offer therapies for neuroendocrine tumours. You can have nuclear medicine at our hospitals in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Treatments that need a short stay are given in a dedicated therapy area, with clear instructions for the days that follow. Throughout, we share your scans and results with the specialist who referred you.