What You Need To Know About Equine Nuclear Medicine
Poor performance or an undefined cause of lameness.- Suspected cervical, thoracolumbar or pelvic region pain.
- An intermittent or subtle lameness that cannot be reproduced to utilize local anesthetics.
- Lameness in multiple limbs.
- Specialty studies available per Radiologist approval
Nuclear Medicine, also called Scintigraphy or Bone Scan, is the detection of gamma rays emitted from the decay of a radionuclide injected intravenously into the patient. Bone that is stressed or repairing from an injury will absorb an amount of the radiopharmaceutical to show a “hot spot” on the gamma camera.
Animal Imaging has the capability to scan the entire horse, front half, back half, or a region of interest. A region of interest includes up to 10 images.
An important aspect of scintigraphy is the post-scan lameness exam. These results are communicated to the referring veterinarian and a diagnostic or treatment plan is then developed.
One of our Board-Certified Radiologists will review all the images and submit a final report within 24-48 hours of the Bone Scan. The report and clinical findings will then be sent to the referring veterinarian and client. Clients should follow-up with the referring veterinarian for an explanation of results and information on treatment or management.
