Clinical Department & Center

Nuclear Medicine

Greetings

Our department performs radionuclide therapy for Graves' disease, differentiated thyroid cancer, malignant pheochromocytoma and medullary thyroid cancer, as well as nuclear medicine imaging using PET, SPECT, etc.
 

Outline

Radionuclide therapy

This is a way to treat a lesion with beta or alpha rays from a radioactive substance by administering a radioactive substance or a drug labeled with a radioactive substance. Targets of the therapy are mainly patients with differentiated thyroid cancer or hyperthyroidism. Our department, also uses I-131 MIBG for patients with malignant pheochromocytoma and medullary thyroid cancer.

Consultation hours (nuclear medicine clinic)

Wednesdays and Fridays (9:00 a.m. – noon), by appointment only
First-visit patients are kindly requested to make an appointment through the Community Service and Welfare Network of our hospital.

Nuclear medicine imaging

Nuclear medicine imaging has great advantages in visualize the function of the target lesion in vivo, by injecting a drug labeled with a small amount of a radioactive element into the body and using the gamma rays from the radioisotope to obtain images.  

PET

At present, PET scans using FDG (fluorodeoxyglucose) and oxygen gases (CO2, CO, C2) are covered by health insurance.
FDG-PET scans of epilepsy, ischemic heart disease, and cancers are covered by health insurance. A PET scanner can create pictures of the extent and metastasis of these diseases, providing important information to diagnose the disease and determine a treatment strategy.
 

Major tests and equipment

Tests

Cerebral blood flow scintigraphy, cisternoscintigraphy, thyroid scintigraphy, parathyroid scintigraphy, adrenal scintigraphy, lung perfusion scintigraphy, lung ventilation scintigraphy, myocardial perfusion scintigraphy, myocardial sympathetic nerve scintigraphy, myocardial fatty acid scintigraphy, liver and spleen colloid scintigraphy, hepatic reserve scintigraphy, gastrointestinal bleeding scintigraphy, Meckel diverticulum scintigraphy, renal dynamic scintigraphy, bone scintigraphy, systemic tumor inflammation scintigraphy, O-15 gas PET, F-18 FDG-PET, etc.

Equipment

Four gamma cameras
Three PET cameras
 

Medical care results

We provide medical care to 100+ patients with differentiated thyroid tumor and 20+ patients with Graves' disease, and perform I-131 MIBG therapy for approximately three cases with malignant pheochromocytoma, medullary thyroid cancer, etc. each year. We also perform approximately 2,500 PET scans and 5,000 other nuclear medicine scans each year.