What is radionuclide imaging?
Also known as nuclear medicine imaging (NMN), radionuclide imaging is an excellent diagnostic tool because it shows not only the anatomy of an organ or body part, but the function of the organ as well. This additional “functional information” allows radionuclide imaging to diagnose certain diseases and various medical conditions much sooner than other medical imaging examinations. For this test, urologists inject a radiosotope “tracer,” a molecule to which a radioactive atom or “tag,” has been attached so that it can be followed through the kidney system with special detectors. While the isotopes such as iodine-123 or 131 are often used, many urologists prefer (-99m) technetium because of its superior imaging characteristics and short half-life. It is attached to DTPA (diethylenetriamine-pentaacetic acid) for imaging patients with normal kidneyl function or MAG3 (mercaptoacetyltriglycine) for those with kidney impairment. In either case, a series of X-ray images of the kidneys are obta
