The UCSD Division of Nuclear Medicine provides advanced diagnostics and treatments not readily available elsewhere. Our expertise and specialized equipment make us a preferred referral center for many other hospitals and specialty physicians. Our physician residency training is integrated into the diagnostic radiology residency program so that at the end of the four year program, the resident may become board certified in both diagnostic radiology and nuclear medicine.
Call to schedule an appointment: 1-619-543-6680
The division provides a wide spectrum of nuclear medicine procedures:
Brain
- DaTSCAN for differentiating Parkinsons from other movement disorders
- PET FDG and amyloid plaque imaging for dementia
- PET / MRI fusion imaging for tumor and seizure evaluation
- Custom PET radiopharmaceuticals for research in neurologic and psychiatric studies (C-11 DASB, C-11 Raclopride, C-11 DAA1106, F-DOPA)
Endocrine
- Thyroid uptake and scans
- Thyroid cancer imaging (I-131 and I-123) and therapy with radioiodine
- SPECT pentaoctreotide and PET dotatate imaging for neuroendocrine tumors
- Parathyroid imaging with SPECT/CT
- MIBG imaging for pheochromocytoma and neuroblastoma
.Cardiovascular
- Myocardial perfusion imaging with SPECT/CT
- Myocardial viability imaging with SPECT and PET
- MUGA and First pass imaging
- Cardiac shunt evaluation
- Myocardial MIBG imaging for sympathetic innervation
- Myocardial pyrophosphate imaging for detection of amyloidosis
Pulmonary
- V/Q imaging, planar and SPECT, for acute and chronic thromboembolic disease
- Quantitative V/Q imaging for pre-surgical evaluation
Gastroenterology
- Gastric emptying and gastroesophageal reflux studies
- HIDA scans for hepatobiliary function, gallbladder function, sphincter of Oddi, biliary atresia, and biliary leak
- SPECT imaging for hemangiomas and focal nodular hyperplasia
- Salivary gland imaging
- Meckel's scan for detection of gastrointestinal mucosa
- Acute GI bleeding scan
- Peritoneal-venous shunt patency (LeVeen, Denver shunts)
Genitourinary Imaging
- Renal imaging for differential function, hydronephrosis, renovascular hypertension
- Quantitative measurement of glomerular filtration rate (GFR)
- Ureteral reflux study
- Bladder residual volume measurement
- Testicular flow imaging
Oncology
- PET/CT tumor imaging with 18F-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose (FDG)
- PET/CT bone metastases imaging with 18F-NaF
- PET/CT imaging with 18F-fluciclovine (Axumin) in prostate cancer
- PET/CT research with custom PET radiopharmaceuticals (e.g. FLT)
- SPECT/CT imaging with standard clinical and research radiopharmaceuticals
- Ra-223 therapy for prostate cancer and research in other cancers
- Research with new radiopharmaceutical therapies (e.g. Lu-177)
- Development of new radiopharmaceuticals and applications in tumor and lymph node imaging (e.g. Lymphoseek, FDA approved 3/13/13)
Division Faculty