Dictionary of Cancer Terms
View in Spanish: Exploración por medicina nuclear
Nuclear medicine scan (NOO-klee-er MEH-dih-sin SKAN)
A method of diagnostic imaging that uses very small amounts of radioactive material. The patient is injected with a liquid that contains the radioactive substance, which collects in the part of the body to be imaged. Sophisticated instruments detect the radioactive substance in the body and process that information into an image.
Source: National Cancer Institute Dictionary of Cancer Terms, available at www.cancer.gov/dictionary.