Nuclear medicine imaging includes techniques that use radioactive material (“radioactive tracers”) that are then detected by a camera in order to produce images of the inside of the body. While most imaging methods are considered structural, that is, they describe structures on the inside of the body, these scans are used to evaluate how regions of the body function.
In some cases, the radioactive substance may also be used to treat cancer (such as the use of radioactive iodine to treat thyroid cancer).
Examples of nuclear medicine scans include:
