Nuclear Medicine

Nuclear Medicine is a specialized diagnostic tool. Physicians can accurately detect disease that may not be detected by other means, such as with CT scans alone. Physicians can pinpoint where disease is located, distinguish it from normal tissue and physiological activity, and predict where it will go next. By allowing physicians to assess the aggressiveness of disease, the system helps eliminate guesswork and potentially avoid unnecessary surgery, while enabling an appropriate treatment plan for the patient. Physicians use this type of scan to look at the function of the gallbladder and the thyroid. This is also the technology used to look at the function of the heart when it is stressed. These studies can also locate cancer within the tissues of the body.

A typical scan can take only about ten minutes. However, a patient may need to come in earlier than the planned scan time for an injection of the istope needed to complete the scan. Our Nuclear Medicine Technologists have over 50 years of combined experience and our radiologist has a sub-speciality in Nuclear Medicine Studies.

Ashley Regional Medical Center has the latest in nuclear medicine technology, the Infinia Hawkeye 4.

The Infinia Hawkeye 4 is the latest in hybrid single photon emission computed tomography/computed tomography (SPECT/CT) scanners and the first to offer the speed and high-resolution images of 4 slice CT.

The system enables confident diagnoses by providing fully registered functional and anatomical information in a single image and with a single exam that is quick and comfortable for patients. The system has the power to deliver quality images even in bariatric patients, and yet patients receive optimized radiation dose.

Ashley Regional is proud to be one of only a handful of hospitals in the state of Utah to provide this amazing new technology.