Radiation Safety in Nuclear Medicine — Flashcards

Flashcard 1: Which radionuclide agent is best used to assess renal function?

Answer: Tc-99m MAG3

Flashcard 2: _____-labeled tracers are most commonly used in myocardial perfusion imaging, as they are associated with the best image quality and the lowest radiation dose to the patient

Answer: 99mTc

Flashcard 3: _____ scan is a nuclear medicine test designed to evaluate the function of right and left ventricles of the heart

Answer: MUGA (multi gated acquisition)

Flashcard 4: Half-life of Tc 99m is _____

Answer: 6 hours

Flashcard 5: Long-lived radiotracers (e.g., Thallium-201 or Tc-99m) are usually combined with _____ induced stress for myocardial perfusion imaging

Answer: exercise (exercise/pharmacological)

Extra: Longer-lived tracers used in SPECT (like Thallium-201 or Tc-99m sestamibi) allow enough time for the patient to perform treadmill exercise before being positioned for imaging. In contrast, short-lived PET tracers (like N-13 Ammonia or Rubidium-82) are typically paired with pharmacological stress (e.g., adenosine, regadenoson) because their very short half-lives require imaging to begin immediately after injection, making treadmill exercise logistically difficult.

Flashcard 6: An ideal therapeutic radioisotope should have _____ beta and low gamma emitter activity

Answer: strong

Flashcard 7: I_____ is used for the functional scan of the thyroid

Answer: 123

Flashcard 8: The Tc 99m labelled RBC is used for the assessment of occult GI hemorrage, _____ function and vascular lesions

Answer: cardiac

Flashcard 9: _____ sign in Gallium scan is seen in sarcoidosis

Answer: Panda

Flashcard 10: _____ carcinoid is more likely to have reduced uptake on FDG PET scan than an atypical carcinoid.

Answer: Typical