Nuclear Medicine is a safe and painless imaging technique used often to help physicians diagnose illness. It is a special branch of radiology that provides a picture of the body's systems in action. Are the key organ systems working they way they should? Is brain activity normal? Is the digestive system working properly? Is chronic pain the result of a tiny bone fracture too small to detect? Nuclear Medicine answers these questions and more with the help of safe, short lived radioactive materials that move through the body and show how the organ systems are functioning.

Nuclear scans or scintigraphy are especially helpful in finding and in some cases treating blockage, locating pockets of infection, identifying hidden fractures, visualizing tumors, and demonstrating changes in bones related to aging or overuse. The scans often locate disease very early in its process when there may be more success in treating it.

EPIC Imaging has been a pioneer in outpatient nuclear medicine. We were one of the first non-hospital based, nuclear medicine facilities licensed by the Oregon Health Division in 1983. In a field that requires longer procedure times, the relaxed outpatient environment greatly enhances patient care.

Since that time, EPIC has maintained its commitment to providing patients with the best technology has to offer in this ever evolving field. In 1999, EPIC Imaging became the first facility in Oregon to acquire a dedicated PET scanner, a revolutionary new technology changing the face of cancer treatment. In late 2003, we once again became the first facility in the region to upgrade to the new combination PET/CT scanner.

All nuclear medicine studies are conducted using a radioisotope and a sophisticated scanner or special nuclear medicine camera. A radioisotope is either swallowed or injected. A radioisotope is a radioactive material used in very small, safe doses. These materials have specific destinations and will congregate to cells and molecules, giving off a small amount of radiation while doing so. Over a period of time (sometimes instantly and sometimes over several hours), this small amount of radiation can be detected by a nuclear medicine camera and evaluated for the overall amount of collection and its intensity. The procedure provides valuable information that cannot be seen on x-ray. The camera or detector counts the activity, sending the counts to a computer which then transforms the counts to images on film. The small amount of radioactivity from the exam is completely gone from your body in 12-24 hours.

When there is difficulty identifying the cause of a disorder, Nuclear Medicine can frequently help provide answers. At EPIC Imaging we use nuclear medicine scans to help our referring physicians locate a suspected fracture that does not show on x-ray film, to look for sites of infection that are unknown or related to unhealed wounds, to check the gallbladder function and, in some situations, evaluate the function of a thyroid gland. Another common use is full skeletal scans to evaluate the entire bone structure, generally as a follow-up to cancer treatment.