Nuclear Medicine

The Department of Nuclear Medicine provides a full range of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. We are one of a few hospital-based labs accredited by the Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Nuclear Medicine Laboratories (CANL) in the nation. Our facilities have a variety of sophisticated imaging equipment including one single-head and three dual-head gamma cameras. We are also equipped with a Biodex uptake probe, which is used for non-imaging studies.

In addition to two Board Certified nuclear medicine physicians, we have three nuclear cardiologists, five technologists, and a full-time physicist who serves as the radiation safety officer.

We specialize in both diagnostic and therapeutic procedures using radionuclides. Typical diagnostic and therapeutic procedures include:

     - Cardiac Scans: Nuclear cardiology techniques are used to
       assess myocardial perfusion and viability as well as cardiac function
       and wall motion evaluation.

     - Bone Scans: Evaluation of malignant disease, response to therapy,
       osteomyelitis, fractures, and other benign diseases.

     - Lung Scans: Evaluation of pulmonary emboli, airway obstruction and
       other lung conditions.

     - Renal Scans: Evaluation of renal function, hydronephrosis, congenital anomaly,
       renal scarring and renal hypertension.

     - Hepatobiliary Scans: Evaluation for acute cholecystitis, extrahepatic biliary
       obstruction, and post-surgical evaluation, including bile leak.

     - Therapy: Thyroid Therapy for both hyperthyroidism and cancer,
       radioimmunotherapy, and bone pain palliation.

Other procedures include Gallium scans, treatment of lower GI bleeding, hemangioma scans, Gastric Emptying, liver-spleen scans, thyroid uptake & scans, parathyroid scans, testicular scans, venograms, superior vena cavograms, lymphangiograms for sentinel node detection, FDG scans, MIBG scans, octreoscan, prostascint scans and more.

Personnel

     - In Suk Seo, MD, Director of Nuclear Medicine
     - Angelina Almonte, RT(N), CNMT, Nuclear Medicine Supervisor
     - Dr. Thomas Lowringer, Physicist/RSO
     - Cherry Charles, Administrative Assistant

Find a Nuclear Medicine Physician [12]

Interventional Radiology

Consider the least invasive option first.

Just a few years ago there were many illnesses and conditions that could only be treated with invasive open surgery, but recent technological advances have changed all that.

Interventional Radiologists use X-rays and other diagnostic images to guide catheters and tiny instruments through blood vessels or skin to the site of illness.

Less is more.

Nonsurgical treatment by an Interventional Radiologist means:

• Less pain—Most procedures require only light intravenous sedation.
• Less time in recovery—Recovery times are measured in days rather than the weeks or months typically required following conventional surgery. Most procedures are done on an outpatient basis.
• Less scarring—Interventional Radiologists create a nick in the skin the size of a pencil tip for most procedures. There are no stitches, and scarring—if any—is minimal.

Varicose veins, from nuisance to non-issue.

Varicose veins occur when the valves in your leg veins don’t open and close properly. Laser treatment by an Interventional Radiologist takes less than an hour, provides immediate relief and leaves no scars or stitches.

For cancer patients.

Working in concert with the Division of Oncology and Hematology, our Interventional Radiologists noninvasively navigate the human body to find and destroy tumors by directly applying chemotherapeutic drugs (chemoembolization), heat (radiofrequency ablation) or even extreme cold (cryoblation).

Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD)

We take a minimally invasive approach to correcting PAD, which is often caused by hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis). Limb salvation may be possible in cases of advanced PAD.

Safe, new solutions for old problems.

Interventional Radiology treats these and other conditions:

• Renal Hypertension—A leading cause of end-stage renal disease (ESRD).
• Portal Venous Hypertension—Often results from cirrhosis of the liver.
• Male and Female Infertility—Fallopian tube recanalization for women and treament of varicoceles for men.

Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT)—We treat the problem directly.

Blood thinners alone may not be enough to treat clots that form in the leg veins. Interventional Radiologists apply advanced “clot busting” drugs directly to the affected area, decreasing the chance of chronic leg swelling.

Uterine fibroid relief, minus the surgery.

Hysterectomy (removal of the uterus) and other surgeries are not the only way to treat uterine fibroids. For many women, a minimally invasive procedure called Uterine Fibroid Embolization, or UFE, is the best option.