Nuclear medicine and cancerology Bastia

(Our radiotherapy center, Corscintigraphie, is located on the 1st floor of the center)
If you have any questions, you can contact the scintigraphy department on 04.95.55.38.80 or contact directly the professionals qualified.

A nuclear medicine imaging examination is an examination of the human body by injecting a product called "radiopharmaceutical", most often into a vein in the arm.
The examination is useful to the doctor to see how an organ works, complete his diagnosis and thus better treat you. This is a method that allows for easy, low-risk patient exploration of physiological functions.

The images are then taken using a device called a gamma camera. Taking the images is painless and usually takes between 15 and 60 minutes. Rest assured, the medical team will remain in constant contact with you.

Don't forget to bring your ID and vital card on the day of the exam. Only your doctor can prescribe a scan. He will explain why he offers this test.

The scintigraphy performed at the Polyclinic Maymard

Bone scintigraphy

You will soon be having a bone scan. This is an examination that allows you to assess your bones and joints.

What is the bone scan used for?

This bone examination will help you know if you have a bone or joint problem. For example, this examination can help to detect a fracture, a dislocation of the prosthesis, polyarthritis... One of its advantages is that it allows to photograph the entire skeleton while minimizing the radiation dose received.

Preparation

No special preparation is required. You can eat and take your medication as usual if necessary. You should allow 3 to 6 hours for this exam.

Review process

Bone scan is a simple, painless examination. First, a very low-level radioactive product is injected into the elbow fold via an intravenous route. This product will then be fixed on your bones which will allow to obtain images.

The photos taken with the camera allow to see the distribution of the product. For example, a fractured bone will accumulate more product at the fracture.

The main steps of bone scan:

• Injection of radioactive product
• First imaging exam
• Patient expectation (bone fixation of the injected product)
• Performing the exam using the gamma camera (minimum 2h after)

There is no risk associated with this test, and no side effects or complications.

Pregnant or breastfeeding women

This test is not recommended for pregnant women. If you are pregnant or think you are, it is essential to inform your doctor (or the department upon arrival).

If you are breastfeeding, you can have a bone scan without any problem. However, as a precaution for the baby, breastfeeding should be stopped within 12 hours of the injection of the radioactive product. On the day of your appointment, you can ask all your questions to the nuclear medicine staff.

Precautions to be taken after the procedure

The product injected is very low in radioactivity, so you can continue your activities normally without harm to yourself or your loved ones. However, after the test is complete, it is important to continue drinking and urinating more often than usual for about 24 hours. This makes it easier for the radioactive product to be removed in your urine. After this time, less than 1% of the injected dose is in your blood, which is negligible.

Receipt of results

Usually, a doctor’s appointment is held immediately after your examination and depending on the indication, the report will be given to you or sent to your prescribing physician within one week.

Pulmonary scintigraphy

Pulmonary scintigraphy is an examination that allows you to explore the functioning of your lungs in various pathologies (chronic lung disease, pre-operative check-ups) or to look for a pulmonary embolism (clot of blood obstructing pulmonary vessels). This examination explores the bronchi and alveoli by inhalation of a low-level radioactive aerosol and the pulmonary vessels by intravenous injection of a low-level radioactive drug.

Preparation and duration of intervention

No special preparation is required. You can eat and take your medication as usual if necessary. You must allow 1 hour for this exam. 

Review process

Pulmonary scintigraphy is a simple, painless examination that takes place in two stages:

• Ventilation scan : It consists in exploring the passage of air through the bronchi and alveoli after calmly breathing a low-level radioactive aerosol through a mask or mouthpiece. You are immediately installed on the back and the device takes pictures of your lungs for about 20 minutes.
• Perfusion scan : It is done immediately after and lasts about 20 minutes. It is to visualize the blood flow in the arteries of your lungs after intravenous injection of a radioactive drug. The gamma camera moves close to you without touching you in order to acquire good quality images.
  

There are no risks associated with this test, nor any side effects or complications. 

Pregnant or breastfeeding women

This test is not recommended for pregnant women. If you are pregnant or think you are, it is essential to inform your doctor (or the department upon arrival).

If you are breastfeeding, you can have a chest scan under certain conditions. As a precaution for the baby, breastfeeding should be stopped within 48 hours of the radioactive product injection and any milk produced during this time should be disposed of. On the day of your appointment, you can ask all your questions to the nuclear medicine staff.

Precautions to be taken after the procedure

The product you have been injected with is very low in radioactivity. You can continue your activities normally, without danger to yourself or your loved ones.

However, after the test is complete, it is important to continue drinking and urinating more often than usual for about 24 hours. This makes it easier for the radioactive product to be removed in your urine. After this time, less than 1% of the injected dose is in your blood, which is negligible.

Receipt of results

The report will be given to you or sent to your prescribing physician within one week.

Parathyroid glands scan

This exam explores the function and morphology of your parathyroid glands. It also allows the organization of iodine by thyroid cells.

Preparation

No special preparation is required. You can eat and take your medication as usual if necessary. You must allow 3 hours for this exam.

Review process

Parathyroid scintigraphy is a simple, painless examination that involves four steps:

• First injection of a very lightly radioactive substance into the IV. This substance will then be in your
• Check the proper attachment of the tracer
• Second injection by intravenous
• Image production: the photos taken with the camera allow to see the distribution of the product. 

There are no risks associated with this test, nor any side effects or complications. 

Pregnant or breastfeeding women

This test is not recommended for pregnant women. If you are pregnant or think you are, it is essential to inform your doctor (or the department upon arrival).

If you are breastfeeding, you can have a chest scan under certain conditions. As a precaution for the baby, breastfeeding should be stopped within 48 hours of the radioactive product injection and any milk produced during this time should be disposed of. On the day of your appointment, you can ask all your questions to the nuclear medicine staff.

Precautions to be taken after the procedure

The product you have been injected with is very low in radioactivity. You can continue your activities normally, without danger to yourself or your loved ones. However, after the test is complete, it is important to continue drinking and urinating more often than usual for about 24 hours. This makes it easier for the radioactive product to be removed in your urine. After this time, less than 1% of the injected dose is in your blood, which is negligible.

Receipt of results

Usually, a doctor’s appointment is held immediately after your examination and depending on the indication, the report will be given to you or sent to your prescribing physician within 1 week.

Thyroid scan

This exam explores the function and morphology of your thyroid glands.

Preparation

You can eat and take your medication as usual if necessary. You must not have had an iodine-injected CT in the last 3 months. You must have stopped your thyroid treatment:

• Under Cordarone 3 months ago
• Under Levothyrox, Neo-mercazole 10 days before.

If your thyroid treatment has not been stopped, the scintigraphic image will be unusable. You must allow 1 hour for this examination.

A participation of 32.91€ will be expected if you have no support to 100%.

Review process

Thyroid scan is a simple, painless examination.

• Intravenous injection: First, a very slightly radioactive product is injected into your arm. This product will then be in your thyroid, which will allow the machine to obtain an image. The photos taken with the camera allow to see the distribution of the product.
• Acquisition of the thyroid region

There are no risks associated with this test, nor any side effects or complications.

Pregnant or breastfeeding women

This test is not recommended for pregnant women. If you are pregnant or think you are, it is essential to inform your doctor (or the department upon arrival).

If you are breastfeeding, you can have a chest scan under certain conditions. As a precaution for the baby, breastfeeding should be stopped within 48 hours of the radioactive product injection and any milk produced during this time should be disposed of. On the day of your appointment, you can ask all your questions to the nuclear medicine staff.

Precautions to be taken after the procedure

The product you have been injected with is very low in radioactivity. You can continue your activities normally, without danger to yourself or your loved ones. However, after the test is complete, it is important to continue drinking and urinating more often than usual for about 24 hours. This makes it easier for the radioactive product to be removed in your urine. After this time, less than 1% of the injected dose is in your blood, which is negligible.

Receipt of results

The results will be sent to you by mail the next day.

Renal scintigraphy at Mag 3

This is an examination that allows to study the vascularization, the uptake and the excretion of the tracer by the kidneys. It can be useful in many pathologies such as junction syndromes, vesicoureuratrial reflux, kidney trauma, renal transplantation.  The objective of the exam is to explore the quality of emptying and compare the respective functioning of your kidneys in the urinary tract obstruction search.

Preparation

We recommend that you drink well before the exam. You can eat and take your medication as usual if necessary. You must allow 1 hour for this exam.

Review process

The Mag 3 renal scan is a simple and painless examination. Upon arrival, we ask you to drink a small amount of water.

• Intravenous injections: first, a very slightly radioactive product is injected into your arm. This product will then be in your kidneys.
• Acquisition of the MRI images: in a second step, the MRI examination is performed.

There are no risks associated with this test, nor any side effects or complications.

Pregnant or breastfeeding women

This test is not recommended for pregnant women. If you are pregnant or think you are, it is essential to inform your doctor (or the department upon arrival).

If you are breastfeeding, you can have a chest scan under certain conditions. As a precaution for the baby, breastfeeding should be stopped within 48 hours of the radioactive product injection and any milk produced during this time should be disposed of. On the day of your appointment, you can ask all your questions to the nuclear medicine staff.

Precautions to be taken after the procedure

The product you have been injected with is very low in radioactivity. You can continue your activities normally, without danger to yourself or your loved ones. However, after the test is complete, it is important to continue drinking and urinating more often than usual for about 24 hours. This makes it easier for the radioactive product to be removed in your urine. After this time, less than 1% of the injected dose is in your blood, which is negligible.

Receipt of results

Usually, a doctor’s appointment is held immediately after your examination and depending on the indication, the report will be given to you or sent to your prescribing physician within one week.

DMSA renal scintigraphy

This exam explores the function of each of your kidneys. This may be useful in the context of pathologies such as a kidney infection. The objective of the examination is to assess relative renal fixation, which allows for an assessment of renal functions and to look for cortical abnormalities related to pyelonephritis.

Preparation

No special preparation is required. You can eat and take your medication as usual if necessary. This exam is usually in two parts (morning and afternoon), so you should plan for 1 day.

Review process

DMSA renal scan is a simple, painless test. The test consists of two steps:

• Injection of a very slightly radioactive product intravenously into the arm in the morning, then into your kidneys.
• At least 3 hours after the injection, in the afternoon, the scintigraphic images are taken.

There are no risks associated with this test, nor any side effects or complications.

Pregnant or breastfeeding women

This test is not recommended for pregnant women. If you are pregnant or think you are, it is essential to inform your doctor (or the department upon arrival).

If you are breastfeeding, you can have a chest scan under certain conditions. As a precaution for the baby, breastfeeding should be stopped within 48 hours of the radioactive product injection and any milk produced during this time should be disposed of. On the day of your appointment, you can ask all your questions to the nuclear medicine staff.

Precautions to be taken after the procedure

The product you have been injected with is very low in radioactivity. You can continue your activities normally, without danger to yourself or your loved ones. However, after the test is complete, it is important to continue drinking and urinating more often than usual for about 24 hours. This makes it easier for the radioactive product to be removed in your urine. After this time, less than 1% of the injected dose is in your blood, which is negligible.

Receipt of results

Usually, a doctor’s appointment is held immediately after your examination and depending on the indication, the report will be given to you or sent to your prescribing physician within 1 week.

Myocardial scintigraphy

This exam includes a stress test that will be conducted in the Nuclear Medicine department (Corscintigraphie). This test is used to study the vascularity of your heart muscle (called the myocardium).

Preparation

Before your exam, you must eat and drink. However, we encourage you to:

• Stop taking any over-the-counter medication (not prescribed by your doctor) 48 hours before your appointment
• Continue taking your doctor’s prescribed medication unless you are told otherwise
• Check with your doctor
• Have lunch (tartines, cakes...)

Plan for the following items on the day of the exam:

• Your medication list
• A recent ECG chart or coronary reports if you have had
• Sports shoes
• A bag to store your clothes and personal belongings.

You should allow 5 to 8 hours for this exam.

Do not forget your vital card, ID card and a payment of € 76.80 by check (corresponding to the stress test of the cardiologist). A care sheet will then be issued so that you can be reimbursed.

Review process

This review is conducted in two stages:

The exercise part (30 to 40 minutes) shows how your heart is doing when it’s working faster. The exercise is done on a bike.

• Installing a venous catheter in your arm
• Performing the stress test and injecting the radioactive product
• Performing the scintigraphic examination.

Before moving on to the next step, there is a waiting time to decrease cardiac activity. Meanwhile, we advise you to eat fat.

The resting part (20 minutes) allows you to visualize your heart condition when you are not active:

• Reinjection
• Catheter removal
• Performing the scintigraphic examination.

The images obtained will help to determine whether your heart is functioning normally during exercise and rest, and if you have a problem with vascularity. 

Myocardial Exercise Scintigraphy is a non-traumatic examination where side effects and the risk of complications are very rare.

Pregnant or breastfeeding women

Myocardial scintigraphy is not recommended for pregnant and lactating women. If you are, it is essential to inform your doctor (or the service upon arrival) and an alternative solution will be proposed.

Special precautions after the procedure

The product injected is very low in radioactivity, so you can continue your activities normally without harm to yourself or your loved ones.

However, after the test is complete, it is important to continue drinking and urinating more often than usual for about 24 hours. This makes it easier for the radioactive product to be removed in your urine. After this time, less than 1% of the injected dose is in your blood, which is negligible. 

Receipt of results

The report is usually sent to your prescribing physician within one week.

Sentinel ganglion scan

This is an examination that identifies the first lymph node(s) draining a breast tumor (sentinel nodes) or melanoma before surgery.

Preparation

No special preparation is required. You can eat and take your medication as usual if necessary. You should allow 3 to 5 hours for this exam.

Review process

Sentinel node scan is a simple, painless examination.

• Subcutaneous injections: a very slightly radioactive product is injected subcutaneously in the vicinity of the tumour. The radioactive substance is absorbed by the lymphatic vessels and travels to the first lymph nodes (sentinel nodes) upstream of the tumour.
• Image acquisition: the injections will allow to obtain an image of the sentinel ganglion with a gamma camera.

There are no risks associated with this test, nor any side effects or complications.

Pregnant or breastfeeding women

This test is not recommended for pregnant women. If you are pregnant or think you are, it is essential to inform your doctor (or the department upon arrival).

If you are breastfeeding, you can have a chest scan under certain conditions. As a precaution for the baby, breastfeeding should be stopped within 48 hours of the radioactive product injection and any milk produced during this time should be disposed of. On the day of your appointment, you can ask all your questions to the nuclear medicine staff.

Precautions to be taken after the procedure

The product you have been injected with is very low in radioactivity. You can continue your activities normally, without danger to yourself or your loved ones. However, after the test is complete, it is important to continue drinking and urinating more often than usual for about 24 hours. This makes it easier for the radioactive product to be removed in your urine. After this time, less than 1% of the injected dose is in your blood, which is negligible.

Receipt of results

The results will be provided to you after your exam.