SATURDAY-18TH OCTOBER 2008-NUCLEAR MEDICINE CENTRE

Nuclear Medicine Centre
This centre, situated beside the Women's Cancer Detection & Breast Clinic on the Ground Floor of the Bangunan Persatuan Kebangsaan Kanser at No. 66 Jalan Raja Muda Abdul Aziz, (click here for location map) and was officially opened in 1997.

The Nuclear Medicine Centre (NMC) is a centre to aid in the diagnosis of cancer. It is equipped with sophisticated medical facilities that help scan for and provide an earlier diagnosis on any abnormalities in organ function which might suggest metastasis of cancer. The types of scanning available include bone scans, iodine studies, renal DTPA, DMSA and thyroid scans. These studies will help paint a clearer picture on the status of the patient and enable the doctor to fight the disease more efficiently. Patients are usually referred to this centre by specialists.

The followings are the nuclear medicine studies offered by NMC:

Oncologic Applications: - Tumor Localization - Tumor Staging - Identify Metastatic Sites - Judge Response to Therapy Orthopedic Applications: - Identify Occult Bone Trauma (Sports Injuries) - Diagnose Osteomyelitis - Evaluate Arthritic Changes and Extent - Localize Sites for Tumor Biopsy - Measure Extent of Certain Tumors Renal Applications: - Detect Urinary Tract Obstruction - Diagnose Renovascular Hypertension - Measure Differential Renal Function - Detect Renal Transplant Rejection - Detect Pyelonephritis - Detect Renal Scars Cardiac Applications: - Coronary Artery Disease - Measure Effectiveness of Bypass Surgery - Measure Effectiveness of Therapy for Heart Failure - Detect Heart Transplant Rejection - Select Patients for Bypass or Angioplasty - Identify Surgical Patients at High Risk for Heart Attacks - Identify Right Heart Failure - Measure Chemotherapy Cardiac Toxicity - Evaluate Valvular Heart Disease - Identify Shunts and Quantify Them - Diagnose and Localize Acute Heart Attacks - Before Enzyme Changes Pulmonary Applications: - Diagnose Pulmonary Emboli - Quantify Lung Ventilation and Perfusion Other Applications: - Diagnose and Treat Hyperthyroidism (Graves' Disease) - Detect Acute Cholecystitis Chronic Biliary Tract Disfunction - Detect Acute Gastrointestinal Bleeding - Detect Testicular Torsion - Detect Occult Infections

Nuclear cardiology is the study of the heart using small amounts of radioactive tracers. It allows us to study the function of the heart non-invasively (without inserting any instruments into the heart itself).

NMC also offers myocardial perfusion imaging, the most commonly used test in nuclear cardiology. This is a form of stress test which makes use of myocardial perfusion tracers and gamma camera imaging methods to assess the adequacy of blood flow to the heart, as well as to find out if how much of the heart muscle is viable (alive) and how much is scarred and damaged beyond repair. It is a diagnostic tool that is often used for the detection of coronary artery disease (narrowing of the heart arteries) and for the assessment of the severity and extent of its effects on blood flow to the heart and myocardial viability