Nuclear medicine
Specialties
Nuclear medicine - Description
Unlike medical imaging (radiography, CT scanning, ultrasound, MRI), which mainly provides information about the anatomical features of an organ, nuclear medicine studies organ function.
To do this, a radioactive tracer specific to an individual tissue type (bone, brain, heart, lung, etc.) is injected into the patient, making it possible to visually assess or quantify its function.
The tracers that are used do not cause any allergic reactions and the low level of radioactivity injected does not pose any risk to health.
Radioisotopes may also be administered for therapeutic purposes, for example iodine 131 for hyperthyroidism.
The Nuclear Medicine Department is located at the four main CHIREC sites, where one or more gamma cameras are in operation every day.
All nuclear medicine procedures are available on all sites, with the exception of PET-CT, which is only available on the Cavell site.
The PET-CT centre also welcomes patients from St Anne-St Rémy Clinic and other hospitals in Belgium.
The Department as a whole is equipped with four densitometers, nine gamma cameras including a number of very new hybrid SPECT-CT machines, and a latest-generation PET-CT.