Nuclear Oncology

Posts Tagged ‘MRI’

Do you use this equipment

The Gamma Knife and the computer program associated treatment planning allows doctors to locate and irradiate relatively small areas of the head (primarily in the brain) with high accuracy. This will be administered radiation dose in the (s) area (s) to deal with little effect on the surrounding tissues. The gamma knife can be used for many types of problems, for example, to treat certain cancers that appear in the brain or come to this body (primary or metastatic brain tumors), benign brain tumors (meningiomas, pituitary adenomas , acoustic neuromas), defective blood vessels (AVMs) and functional problems (trigeminal neuralgia). They are studying future uses for epilepsy and Parkinson’s disease. The Gamma Knife is not generally useful in areas measuring more than three or four centimeters.

How does this team

The gamma knife uses a technique called stereotactic radiosurgery, which uses multiple radiation beams that converge in three dimensions to focus precisely on a small amount, like a tumor, this allows radiation doses to that volume safely. Current models of gamma knife uses advanced robotics to move the patient in submillimeter increments during treatment in order to focus the radiation successfully in all areas to be treated. Treatment with gamma knife are given in a single session. Read the rest of this entry »

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is a noninvasive medical test that helps physicians diagnose and treat medical conditions.

MRI uses a powerful magnetic field, radio frequency pulses and a computer to create detailed images of organs, soft tissues, bone and virtually all other internal body structures. Thus, images can be viewed in the monitor of a computer, transmitted electronically, printed or copied to a CD. MRI does not use ionizing radiation (X rays).

The detailed images obtained with MRI allow physicians to better evaluate parts of the body and determine the presence of certain diseases that could not be assessed adequately with other imaging methods such as X-rays, ultrasound or computed tomography (also called CT or CAT scanning).

The prostate is a gland the size of a walnut that is part of the male reproductive system. In front of the rectum and below the bladder, where urine is stored, and surrounds the urethra, the tube through which urine leaves the body and other fluids. The prostate helps make the milky fluid called semen that carries sperm outside the body when a man ejaculates. Ultrasound and MRI are the techniques used to visualize the prostate. Read the rest of this entry »