Nuclear medicine is a medical specialty that uses safe, painless, and cost effective techniques both to image the body and treat disease. Nuclear medicine imaging is unique in that it documents organ function and structure, in contrast to diagnostic radiology, which is based upon anatomy. It is a way to gather medical information that may otherwise be unavailable, require surgery, or necessitate more expensive diagnostic tests. Nuclear medicine uses very small amounts of radioactive materials or radiopharmaceuticals to diagnose and treat disease.
Radiopharmaceuticals are substances that are attracted to specific organs, bones, or tissues.
These cameras work in conjunction with computers used to form images that provide data and information about the area of the body being imaged. The amount of radiation from a nuclear medicine procedure is comparable to that received during a diagnostic x-ray. Today, nuclear medicine offers procedures that are helpful to a broad span of medical specialties, from pediatrics to cardiology to psychiatry. There are nearly one hundred different nuclear medicine imaging procedures available and includes every major organ of the human body. The Nuclear Medicine Technology Program at Saint Louis University is one of the oldest programs of its kind in the nation.