What is a nuclear medicine gastric emptying study? Either liquid or solid-phase gastric emptying studies can be performed. Liquid studies are typically conducted on infants. After the infant receives a mixture of 99m Tc-sulfur colloid with milk or formula at the normal feeding time, imaging is performed and an emptying half-time is calculated. In adults, a solid-phase …
What nuclear medicine esophageal studies are available? How are they used? Esophageal motility study: The evaluation of esophageal dysmotility should begin with assessment for anatomic abnormalities using endoscopy, barium swallowing study, or CT. This is typically followed by manometry if an anatomic cause is not identified. A nuclear medicine study is performed if a diagnosis is …
What is gallbladder dyskinesia? How does cholescintigraphy evaluate the emptying of the gallbladder? A significant number of patients with normal conventional imaging and clinical evaluation have pain referable to the gallbladder, as evidenced by relief of symptoms after cholecystectomy. The poorly understood and heterogeneous entity of gallbladder dyskinesia has been proposed as the cause of …
What is the role of cholescintigraphy in diagnosing biliary atresia? If the patient is properly prepared for the examination, cholescintigraphy can be helpful in excluding the diagnosis of biliary atresia. The other primary differential diagnostic possibility in neonates is severe neonatal hepatitis. The role of scintigraphy is not to diagnose biliary atresia but rather to …
How is cholescintigraphy used to diagnose and manage biliary leak? Cholescintigraphy is highly sensitive and specific for detecting biliary leak. Nonbile fluid collections are common after surgery and can significantly limit the specificity of anatomic studies. In cases of a postcholecystectomy bile leak, cholescintigraphy can demonstrate accumulation of activity in the gallbladder fossa with progressive …
How should patients with acute cholecystitis be prepared? What manipulations are used to shorten the study or increase its reliability? Traditionally, acute cholecystitis is diagnosed on functional cholescintigraphy by noting a lack of filling of the gallbladder on both the initial 60-minute study and subsequent 4-hour delayed images. Patient preparation is vital in ensuring that …
How should patients with acute cholecystitis be prepared Read More »
How is cholescintigraphy (hepatobiliary imaging) performed? What is a normal study? The technique for a basic cholescintigraphic study is the same for nearly all of its clinical indications. The patient is injected with a technetium-99m–labeled iminodiacetic acid (IDA) derivative. Although commonly referred to as a HIDA scan, hepatic IDA is no longer used in imaging. Disofenin and …