Department of Nuclear Medicine

The Department of Nuclear Medicine at Taipei Medical University Hospital was established in 1998. The main diagnostic equipment is a Single Photon Emission Computed tomography (SPECT) and SPECT/CT, Positron Emission Tomography (PET), and Gamma counter. The members in this team include physicians, radiologists, laboratory technicians, and nurses.

Nuclear images are functional, physiological and biochemical. We use radionuclide or radioisotope labeled pharmaceutics for specific organ imaging, mostly whole body bone scan, myocardial perfusion scan, thyroid scan, renal scan and split renal function, dynamic salivary function, sentinel lymph node determination, tumor and inflammatory scans. Our FDG/PET machines allow for malignant/benign tumor differentiation, cancer initial and re- staging, evaluation of the effect of treatment, and prediction of disease outcome. Addtionally, we use radioimmunoassays to measuring the circulation levels of hormones and tumor markers. The diseases we treat are thyroid disorders, employing treatment methods such as radioiodine (I-131) for hyperthyroidism or a low dose I-131 for post-operative thyroid cancer, as well as the recently available Ra-223 for skeletal metastatic prostate cancer.