Nuclear imaging uses radioactive tracers (also called radiopharmaceuticals) and imaging technology to see what is taking place in specific areas of the body. After the patient receives a radiopharmaceutical containing a minute amount of a radioactive material, doctors take images with special cameras designed to pick up the tracers as they move through the area of the body in question. All radiopharmaceuticals undergo extensive testing and FDA approval before use and have been determined to be safe. The minimal amount of radioactive materials used moves through the body quickly.

Images are taken in sequence and allow doctors to observe how the blood flows, watch metabolic processes take place, or see if a drug is going where it should. Nuclear scans often show metabolic abnormalities in bones, organs, blood vessels and glands before any changes in anatomy can be seen. They offer doctors the ability to spot tumors at early stages and track where cancers have spread. Nuclear medicine is also helpful in determining if a suspected cancer might be a cyst or other nonmalignant condition.

Sutter Cancer Centers offer two types of nuclear image scans. In Sacramento you will have access to positron emission tomography (PET) and PET fused with CT scan. At our Sutter Cancer Center, Roseville, computed tomography combined with single-photon emission computed tomography (CT/SPECT) is available.

Image Fusing
Sutter Cancer Centers have access to imaging capabilities that are among the country's most advanced through the nuclear medicine department of Sutter Roseville Medical Center. Using groundbreaking technology and the most advanced software of its kind, a nationally recognized team of doctors and technicians is able to fuse multiple images captured from different sources into 2- and 3-D images that show the location of a tumor and how the body is responding to it.

Images that show the body's structure (form) are taken using X-ray, computed tomography (CT), and/or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Those images are combined with images that show chemical or metabolic changes (function) taken with positron emission tomography (PET) and/or single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) scanning. The blended images give doctors an inside look at structure and metabolic processes to determine tumor presence and characteristics. The tumor's size, shape and location along with the body's reaction to it provide valuable information that may allow doctors to determine the cause or severity of a condition without performing surgery. The form-plus-function capability can also help doctors determine whether the patient's condition warrants surgery or less invasive treatments.

For more information on nuclear imaging, see the positron emission tomography topic in our Health Information sections. Additional information is available from the National Cancer Institute (www.cancer.gov), including a special section on cancer imaging at imaging.cancer.gov.