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PAMF Nuclear Medicine

If you’ve been diagnosed with cancer and need to know if it has spread, if Parkinson’s disease is suspected, or if an organ is at risk of damage due to chronic disease, nuclear medicine is often the go-to tool for answers. Palo Alto Medical Foundation Nuclear Medicine combines the latest technology with leading-edge medical techniques.

Female patient waiting for PET scan

Imaging Molecular Activity

Nuclear medicine is a remarkable branch of imaging that is used to investigate and treat abnormal physiologic activity in many areas of the body. Instead of producing pictures of tumors or fractures, nuclear medicine visualizes activity within your body at the molecular level. Certified radiologists in the Nuclear Medicine Department at Palo Alto Medical Foundation will guide you through your diagnostic tests with the care, attention and expertise you deserve.

What Is Nuclear Medicine?

Nuclear medicine is a branch of medical imaging that uses small amounts of radioactive material to diagnose or treat a variety of diseases and medical conditions, including many types of cancers, heart disease and certain other abnormalities within the body.

Unlike other imaging techniques that focus on depicting structures (bones, ligaments, organs, etc) within the body, nuclear medicine imaging focuses on depicting physiologic processes within the body enabling radiologists to identify early stages of a disease as well as monitor the patient’s response to therapeutic interventions.

Some nuclear medicine imaging examinations, such as PET-CT,  use both nuclear medicine and the digital x-ray technology known as CT to concurrently look at physiology and anatomy, assuring more accurate diagnostic testing for our patients.

How Is the Study Performed?

Depending on the type of nuclear medicine exam you receive, the radiopharmaceutical, or radiotracer, is injected into a vein, swallowed in a pill or inhaled as a gas.

Once inside the body, the radioactive material eventually accumulates in the organ or area of your body being examined, where it gives off energy in the form of gamma rays. This energy is detected by a device called a gamma camera, a PET scanner and/or probe.

These devices work together with a computer to measure the amount of radiotracer absorbed by your body and to produce special pictures offering details on both the structure and function of organs and tissues. This differs from an x-ray or CT, where an image is made by passing x-rays through your body from an outside source.

Nuclear medicine also offers therapeutic procedures such as radioactive iodine (I-131) therapy, which uses radioactive material to treat cancer and other medical conditions affecting the thyroid gland.

Why Is Nuclear Medicine Used?

Nuclear medicine is used to provide a detailed diagnostic view of a variety of organs and other body parts, such as the heart, lungs, bones, and brain. It can also be used to evaluate other systems and processes like blood flow, inflammation, infection, bleeding, fever, stomach emptying and spinal fluid flow.  

Nuclear medicine imaging can be used to:

  • Analyze kidney function and obstruction
  • Visualize heart blood flow and function (such as a myocardial perfusion scan “stress test”)
  • Scan lungs for respiratory and blood flow problems
  • Identify inflammation in the gallbladder
  • Evaluate bones for fractures, infection, arthritis and tumors
  • Treat or eliminate a tumor with radiosurgery
  • Determine the presence or spread of cancer in various parts of the body
  • Identify bleeding into the bowel
  • Locate infection
  • Detect an overactive or underactive thyroid
  • Investigate abnormalities in the brain
  • Localize the lymph nodes before surgery in patients with breast cancer or melanoma skin cancer

Special Programs

older caucasian male portrait

Radiosurgery at PAMF

PAMF's noninvasive radiosurgery treatment technology delivers a precision dose of radiation to tumors, destroying a targeted area without harming the surrounding normal tissue.

Doctors at Palo Alto Medical Foundation

The following doctors are part of the Sutter Health network. Learn about the doctors on this site.
Nick G. Costouros, M.D.

Nick G. Costouros, M.D.

  • Nuclear Medicine

Nellis A. Smith, M.D.

Nellis A. Smith, M.D.

  • Nuclear Medicine

Shalini L. Bhambani, M.D.

Shalini L. Bhambani, M.D.

  • Nuclear Medicine

Bruce A. Benedick, M.D.

Bruce A. Benedick, M.D.

  • Nuclear Medicine

View All Related Doctors

Services Near You

Palo Alto Center Imaging

Palo Alto Center Imaging

795 El Camino Real

Level A, Lee Building

Palo Alto, CA 94301

(650) 321-4121

Sunnyvale Center (301) Imaging

Sunnyvale Center (301) Imaging

301 Old San Francisco Road

Level 1

Sunnyvale, CA 94086

(650) 934-7700

Santa Cruz Center Imaging

Santa Cruz Center Imaging

2025 Soquel Avenue

1st Floor

Santa Cruz, CA 95062

(831) 458-5521

Mountain View Center Imaging

Mountain View Center Imaging

701 East El Camino Real

1st and 2nd Floor

Mountain View, CA 94040

(650) 934-7700

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