The section of
Nuclear Medicine provides diagnostic and therapeutic
procedures, including cardiac, hematology and oncology, and endocrine
services (particularly thyroid disorders and parathyroid disease). The
section also offers a comprehensive range of diagnostic
gastrointestinal, genitourinary, musculoskeletal, pulmonary, and
neurologic exams.
A few examples of specific studies include bone mineral densitometry
with DEXA for osteoporosis, labeled leukocyte imaging for abscess
localization, exercise and pharmacologic myocardial perfusion imaging,
monoclonal antibody imaging for detection of prostate, whole-body
thallium imaging, and SPECT for the detection and grading of tumors.
Therapeutic procedures include the use of radioactive iodine
treatment of hyperthyroidism and thyroid cancer, strontium or samarium
therapy is provided for painful bony metastases. New antibody therapies
labeled with yttrium-90 (Zevalin) and I-131 (Bexxar) are also being
utilized for patients who are no longer responding well to their
chemotherapy. In partnership with interventional radiology, radioembolic
therapy with yttrium-90 spheres (SIR-Spheres and Theraspheres) are
going to be utilized for therapy in primary and metastatic liver cancer
patients.
Equipment for the section of Nuclear Medicine includes: three
variable angle SPECT cameras (one of which is coincidence/PET capable),
a single head spot camera with SPECT capabilities, a multi-slice
PET/CT scanner. We expect to have our second SPECT/CT scanner in service
real soon.
For bone densitometry, we use Hologic DEXA units which measures AP
spine, lateral spine, hip, wrist, and whole body regions. In Victory
Lakes and Pearland Imaging Center, we use the Lunar system.
The Nuclear Medicine section is working hard to integrate new
imaging tracers, modalities, and therapies as they become available to
better serve the regions patient population and keep the Department of
Radiology at the leading edge of imaging practices.
Two small animal SPECT-CT-PET are under our Nuclear Medicine license to perform cutting edge research.
Molecular Imaging of the breast will available soon with new Dillon Breast Specific Imaging Camera.
PET/CT and SPECT/CT Hybrid Systems
Recent, technical advances have resulted in
the combination of SPECT or PET scanners together with X-ray computed
tomography (CT) in a single camera system. These hybrid systems yield
maximum information and a complete set of pictures with a single
noninvasive imaging study, by integrating functional information from
nuclear imaging with morphologic information for CT.
Cardiovascular Nuclear Medicine
To continue its longstanding history of
leadership in biomedical imaging, the Section of Nuclear Medicine at the
University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, has recently enhanced
and expanded its services with the most advanced nuclear imaging
systems and additional expert clinicians.
The novel SPECT/CT and PET/CT scanners now
incorporate the most modern PET and SPECT detection methods with state
of the art multi-slice X-ray CT to increase diagnostic accuracy.
Cardiac imaging at the highest possible
standard is thus available for the workup of suspect or known
cardiovascular disease. This program is continuously updated through
incoming developments from our cardiovascular research program that
will include calcium channel scoring in-conjunction with myocardial
perfusion scan.