Nuclear Medicine

Gold seal - ACR accreditation in nuclear medicine Hartford Hospital’s Department of Radiology has been awarded a three-year term of accreditation in nuclear medicine as the result of a recent review by the American College of Radiology (ACR). The ACR gold seal of accreditation represents the highest level of image quality and patient safety. It is awarded only to facilities meeting ACR Practice Parameters and Technical Standards after a peer-review evaluation by board-certified physicians and medical physicists who are experts in the field. Learn more.

The Program | Exam Options | Services

The Program

The Department of Nuclear Medicine is a full-service nuclear medicine department which performs both diagnostic and therapeutic procedures on all age ranges.

Nuclear medicine provides physicians with information about medical problems based on how parts of the body function.

Common nuclear medicine applications include: diagnosis and treatment of thyroid conditions; bone scans for detection of cancer, infection or subtle bone injuries; lung scans for blood flow to the lungs and air exchange; liver, gall bladder and renal scans.

All staff physicians are either board certified in nuclear medicine or are radiologists with special competency certification in nuclear medicine. All technologists performing the clinical exams are certified nuclear medicine technologists.

General Preparations

All nuclear medicine exams involve intravenous injection, inhalation and/or swallowing of specially formulated compounds (tracers) with imaging at timed intervals. Tracers are attracted to specific organs, bones or tissues in the body, which then are detectable by special types of cameras. Reactions to these tracers are rare. The total amount of radiation a patient receives from a nuclear medicine examination is comparable to that received during a diagnostic x-ray.

Exam Options

Services

Bone Densitometry
Bone densitometry, also called dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry, DEXA or DXA, uses a very small dose of ionizing radiation to measure bone loss.
Coronary Calcium Score
The coronary calcium score screening is a CT scan used to assess your risk of heart disease. In just five minutes, this non-contrast, non-invasive test allows doctors to take pictures of your heart and look for blockages in your arteries that can cause a heart attack.
CT Scans
CT (computed tomography or CT scan) is an imaging technology that uses x-ray beams (radiation) and computers to create detailed, cross-sectional images of an area of the body.
CT Virtual Colonoscopy
Each year, approximately 150,000 Americans are diagnosed with a very common and serious disease - colon cancer.
General Diagnostic Radiology
General Diagnostic Radiology includes evaluation of the chest, spine, skull, extremities, hips, pelvis and abdomen. General diagnostic radiology is often used to evaluate suspected fracture or other indications of injury or abnormality.
Interventional Radiology
The Department of Interventional Radiology and Neuroimaging’s staff physicians have all received specialized training and are all certified by the American Board of Radiology.
Mammography
A mammogram is used to evaluate an abnormal clinical finding, such as a breast lump, that has been found by a woman or her physician.
MRI
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology is unrivaled in its ability to produce high resolution images of soft tissue and structural anatomy.
Nuclear Medicine
Nuclear medicine is a safe and painless imaging technology that uses small amounts of specially-formulated radioactive materials (tracers) to help diagnose and treat a variety of diseases.
PET Scan
PET/CT combines the functional information from a positron emission tomography (PET) exam with the anatomical information from a computed tomography (CT) exam into one single exam.
Ultrasound
In an ultrasound procedure, high-frequency sound waves (ultrasound) are transmitted to tissues or organs and make echoes.