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Nuclear Medicine Program Meet Our Team Locations Resources for Families Contact Information Request an Apppointment     Email This Page Print This Page           Nuclear Medicine Program Children’s has a long history of providing subspecialty care in nuclear medicine and has three nuclear medicine technologists with extensive experience in obtaining the highest-quality images in children using the minimum amount of radiation and sedation. Children’s performed more than 2,000 exams in 2006, one of the largest volumes of pediatric nuclear medicine procedures in the country. Our team routinely performs scans that other hospitals may do occasionally. Nuclear medicine uses radioactive materials to image, and in certain circumstances treat, various diseases. Other imaging tests (such as x-rays, ultrasound and MRI) subject the patient’s body to external energy to monitor how the body absorbs, reflects, or scatters the externally-stored energy to make a picture. In nuclear medicine, nuclear radiologists place the energy source (a radioactive substance) inside the body, usually through an IV injection. All radioactive substances emit energy, one type of which is called gamma rays or gamma radiation. Using special cameras, Children’s technologists can take a picture of the gamma rays to see how the body absorbs, reflects, and scatters the internally-located energy. Nuclear medicine is sometimes a better test in the diagnoses and treatment of certain conditions than other imaging techniques. However, most of the time the scans are done in addition to other imaging tests and procedures. Children’s team consists of Massoud Majd, MD, with more than 35 years of experience is one of the founders of pediatric nuclear medicine and a world authority on renal scanning; Pranav Vyas, MD, who has more than 13 years of experience; and Eglal Shalaby-Rana, MD,who has more than 16 years of experience. Together this team ensures that patients are treated in a family-centered environment where parents can stay with their children during a scan.