A brain perfusion scan assesses the amount of blood taken up in certain areas of the brain, providing information on brain function. A radioactive tracer will be injected into your body, and a nuclear medicine scanner will be used to track how the tracer spreads through your brain, showing which areas received most of the tracer. Your referring practitioner may recommend this scan if you have epilepsy, dementia, a brain tumour, recent head injury, stroke, or a brain bleed.

A hepatobiliary iminodiacetic acid (HIDA) scan can be used to help diagnose liver, gall bladder and bile duct conditions. A radioactive tracer is injected into the body, where it travels to the liver and is taken up by bile-producing cells. From here it travels to the gall bladder and bile ducts, and through to the small intestine. The nuclear medicine scanner can track the tracer and produce images of these structures. The scan can help determine conditions such as inflammation, obstruction, bile leaks and fistulas, and aid in assessing liver transplants. 

A parathyroid scan is used to locate enlarged, overactive or abnormal parathyroid glands, which are found near the thyroid gland. In some cases, a person’s parathyroid glands may be ectopic, meaning they are found in abnormal places. This type of nuclear medicine examination can help to locate these glands and is commonly performed before surgery to remove the glands. A radioactive tracer will be injected and absorbed by the glands, which then appear on imaging. 

A thyroid study is a nuclear medicine examination which can help diagnose a range of conditions including hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism, cancer and others. You will be injected with a small amount of a radioactive tracer which will travel to your thyroid. After about 20 minutes you will then lie on the scanning bed, and images will be taken of your thyroid. 
Indications include: 

• Abnormal thyroid function tests 
• Evaluate solid nodule 
• Suspected Graves’ Disease