Heart diseases and nuclear medicines are reciprocal to each other. Nuclear medicine is safe and effective in diagnosing blood flow and heart diseases. This helps in identifying strokes immediately. Some types of nuclear medicine tests to diagnose heart diseases are as follows:

Myocardial perfusion imaging will help in diagnosing blood flow to the heart muscle non invasively. This test is done at two levels, i.e. at rest and at stress or in conjunction with stress test that means while working on treadmill etc. This method is used to detect coronary artery disease in a patient. The technetium 99 mm medicines are injected in patient's vein through the arm.

Gated heart method helps to detect various hemodynamic functions of heart. The ventricular functions of heart are diagnosed by this method. It also helps in detecting cardiac chamber volumes and cardiac output.

Multi gated Acquisition scan (MUGA) is a non-invasive method of identifying pumping function of ventricles. A small amount of radioactive compound is administered in the patient's body. The radioactive and gamma rays will help in providing exact images of heart. There are no food restrictions before taking this scan.

Positron emission tomography also includes radioactive substances that will help in creating three-dimensional pictures of tissues inside the body. This helps the doctor to view the blood flow in the heart and to detect any heart diseases. You should not eat anything after midnight before this test. Avoid tea and coffee. Plenty of water should be consumed. The process will take some three and half hours to complete.

Nuclear exercise stress test is taken to evaluate blood flow to the heart. A radioactive compound is injected in the vein through the arm of the patient. The gamma camera will produce clear images of heart. This will help in detecting the heart functioning at stress and at rest. You should not eat anything before 4 hours of this test. Water is however allowed.

The heart study with the help of nuclear medicine is a time consuming process. It will take two or more hours to diagnose. But it is very helpful in diagnosing various heart diseases to the core.

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