Scintigraphic gastroenterologic studies at the Maribor General hospital

Abstract

Background: The paper presents a review of nuclear-medicine procedures that are performed at the Maribor General Hospital for the purpose gastroenterologic diagnostics. The aim of the paper is to present the possibilities of nuclear medicine in relation to other imaging modalities to help with diagnostic evaluation of gastroenterologic patients according to indications and predictive values (sensitivity, specificity) of particular investigation.Conclusions: Simptoms and signs of gastroenterologic diseases are often nonspecific, so beside the clinical examination of the patient and laboratory tests, there is often a requirement for imaging diagnostic precedures. In addition to ultrasound, X-ray and MRI, there is sometimes a need for nuclear medicine procedures that could help revealing the diagnostic problem. In the last decade special attention is paid to positron emission tomography (PET) and peptide receptor scintigraphy.

Keywords

• scintigraphy
• positron emission tomography
• radiopharmaceuticals
• imaging diagnostics