Nuclear Medicine - Beverly Hills Medical Imaging

Nuclear Medicine ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY

A Doppler ultrasound study may be part of an ultrasound examination. Doppler ultrasound is a special ultrasound technique that evaluates blood velocity as it flows through a blood vessel, including the body’s major arteries and veins in the abdomen, arms, legs and neck.

THERE ARE THREE TYPES OF DOPPLER ULTRASOUND:

Color Doppler uses a computer to convert Doppler measurements into an array of colors to visualize the speed and direction of blood flow through a blood vessel.
Power Doppler is a newer technique that is more sensitive than color Doppler and capable of providing greater detail of blood flow, especially when blood flow is little or minimal. Power Doppler, however, does not help the radiologist determine the direction of blood flow, which may be important in some situations.
Spectral Doppler. Instead of displaying Doppler measurements visually, Spectral Doppler displays blood flow measurements graphically, in terms of the distance traveled per unit of time.

DOPPLER ULTRASOUND IMAGES CAN HELP THE PHYSICIAN TO EVALUATE:

Blockages to blood flow (such as clots).
Narrowing of vessels (which may be caused by plaque).
Tumors and congenital malformation.

With knowledge about the speed and volume of blood flow gained from a Doppler ultrasound image, the physician can often determine whether a patient is a good candidate for a procedure like angioplasty.

courtesy of radiologyinfo.org

Most Doppler ultrasound scanning is noninvasive (no needles or injections) and is usually painless.

Nuclear Medicine I-131 THYROID THERAPY

I-131 is an isotope of iodine used in the treatment of an overactive thyroid (hyperthyroidism) or in killing residual or metastatic tissue in patients with Thyroid Cancer.

The isotope I-131 is used to destroy or disable functioning thyroid tissue so that it decreases or eliminates the production of thyroid hormone.

It is a painless remedy and involves the oral administration of a small capsule that has no significant taste or smell of any sort and can be given on an outpatient basis under some guidelines of release. However, it has to be administered by a licensed Nuclear Medicine Physician.

Available specialists

I-131 THYROID THERAPY

Nuclear Medicine RUBIDIUM IMAGING

Silicon Valley Medical Imaging is the exclusive provider of Rubidium-82 myocardial perfusion imaging 7 days a week for all of Northern California.

Rubidium PET acquires images by detecting the radioactive tracer rubidium. The CT part of the combined PET CT imaging system measures blood flow to the heart and yields images of coronary arteries quite comparable to those seen in an invasive technique called cardiac catheterization. Rubidium PET/CT produces a clear picture of perfused areas of heart muscle, and is very sensitive in picking up heart disease.

Individuals who are studied are either normal, or have an abnormal test. The ones with abnormal tests are either offered behavior modification advice (change of eating habits, increasing exercise, or reducing stress), and to take medications to reduce their risk for coronary artery disease; or an intervention can be done to treat invasive or by surgery. They can then be scanned at a later time to see what benefit occurred.