Nuclear medicine is a safe and painless imaging technology that uses small amounts of specially-formulated radioactive materials (tracers) to help diagnose and treat a variety of diseases. Nuclear medicine provides physicians with information about medical problems based on how parts of the body function, whereas x-ray scans reveal a body's appearance or structure.
Common nuclear medicine applications include: Diagnosis and treatment of thyroid conditions, bone scans for detection of
cancer, infection or subtle bone injuries, lung scans for blood flow to the lungs and air exchange and liver and gall bladder scans.
The Department of Nuclear Medicine is a full-service nuclear medicine department which performs both diagnostic and therapeutic procedures.