Nuclear Medicine
Nuclear Medicine is a branch
of medicine that uses radioactive drugs to diagnose and treat certain diseases.
This area uses radioactive drugs that have very short half-lives which means
they decay rapidly into a harmless material. 
Often,
the injected radioactive material is inside the body for a very short time which
means that the total dose of radiation is small. The radiation received is similar,
and sometimes even less than many other types of x-ray procedures. About 12
million nuclear medicine procedures are performed every year in the United States.
In conventional x-ray procedures, the radiation comes out of
a machine and passes through the patient’s body. In nuclear medicine procedures,
a radioactive material is introduced into the patient’s body (usually by injection),
and is detected by a machine called a gamma camera.
X-rays and nuclear medicine
scans provide different types of information. X-rays produce a structural image
of an organ. They tell us how the organ looks. Nuclear Medicine
provides images of organ function. They can tell us what part
of an organ is functioning properly and what is not.
The Nuclear Medicine Section
is managed by Tom Murray BS RT (R)(N) CNMT ASCP (N). We are
on call 24 hours for emergencies including Sundays and holidays. This section
performs over 6,200 exams each year. You may contact the Nuclear Medicine Section
by calling (479) 314-6200 or by emailing the section manager Tom
Murray.
Society of
Nuclear Medicine
