Nuclear Medicine

Nuclear Medicine is the medical specialty, where a trace amount of radio-isotopes is used for diagnosis and treatment of various diseases. These non-invasive and safe procedures (scans) allow diagnosis in the initial phase of the disease at the molecular level – well before they are detected by other diagnostic tests.

Nuclear medicine is a branch of medical imaging and treatment. Nowadays, it is also referred to as Nuclear Theranostics or Nuclear Oncology due to its important role in cancer diagnosis and therapy. Small amounts of radioactive molecules, also known as radiotracers or radiopharmaceuticals, are administered either intravenously or orally to help diagnose and sometimes treat various diseases.

Nuclear medicine shows how organs and tissues function using imaging techniques such as PET and SPECT (Gamma Camera). In advanced Nuclear Medicine technologies like PET-CT and SPECT-CT, both functional information and detailed anatomical (morphological) structures can be obtained in a single study.

In PET-CT, various radiopharmaceuticals such as 18F-FDG, PSMA, and DOTANOC are commonly administered to aid in cancer diagnosis, staging, restaging, evaluation of treatment response, and detection of early recurrence. PET-CT is also used for the assessment of brain function, as well as the evaluation of heart blood supply and myocardial viability.

SPECT-CT is used in the assessment of kidney function (GFR and urinary drainage), evaluation of heart blood supply & pumping (Stress myocardial perfusion), as well as the assessment of thyroid, brain, and liver function.

Theranostics is a medical approach that combines diagnosis and treatment using the same or very similar radioactive medicines. It is currently used for the management of diseases such as prostate cancer, thyroid cancer, neuroendocrine tumors, and certain brain tumors. Commonly used theranostic therapies include radioiodine therapy for thyroid cancer, Lutetium-177 DOTATATE therapy for neuroendocrine tumors, and PSMA-targeted therapy for prostate cancer. These targeted therapies deliver radiation directly to cancer cells while minimizing damage to healthy tissue.

Department of Nuclear Medicine at Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital, Mumbai is equipped with state-of-the-art infrastructure:

• PET-CT scanner
• SPECT Gamma Camera
• Nuclear Cardiology Lab
• High Dose Radioiodine Therapy Ward (2-Bed Facility)
• Radionuclide Therapy Facility (TARE, Bone Pain Palliation, Radiation Synovectomy, etc.)
• Intra-operative Probe for minimally-invasive surgery and Sentinel Node Localization
• In-house Radio-pharmacy (Tc-99m, Ga-68 labeled compounds)

Following Services are available in Nuclear Medicine Department

Diagnostic

PET-CT (Digital PET-CT)

• Wholebody FDG PET-CT scan
• Wholebody PSMA PET-CT scan
• Wholebody DOTA NOC PET-CT scan
• FDG Brain PET scan
• DOPA Brain PET scan
• Cardiac PET scan for endocarditis / sarcoidosis
• Myoviability cardiac PET scan
• Trivehexin Parathyroid PET scan

SPECT-CT (Gamma Camera)

• Wholebody / Three phase Bone scan
• Renal scan (DTPA / EC / DMSA / DRCUG)
• Thyroid scan
• Parathyroid scan
• HIDA (Hepatobiliary scan)
• Stress Myocardial Perfusion scan / Stress Thallium
• MUGA
• V/Q lung perfusion scan
• MAA Liver shunt scan
• Ictal-Interictal Brain scan
• Radioiodine scan
• Milk scan (GE reflux study)
• Meckel’s scan
• Lymphoscintigraphy
• Sentinel node imaging
• Pyrophosphate cardiac Amyloidosis scan

Therapeutics

• Low dose radioiodine ablation for Graves’ disease or Toxic multinodular goiter
• High dose Radioiodine ablation/therapy for Cancer thyroid
• 177Lu-DOTATATE therapy (PRRT) for Neuroendocrine tumor
• 177Lu-PSMA therapy for Cancer Prostate