Nuclear medicine is used to diagnose any infections in joints that may not be shown by x-rays. The nuclear medicine scans help in detecting any complications in joints. Some patients may feel unexplained pain in the joints but the problem cannot be diagnosed by physical examination or x-ray. However, nuclear medicine provides clear images of joints and even small infections can be notified. This article describes the relation between Nuclear medicine and infected joints.

Sometimes joint replacement surgery may create complications, which will make the patient to undergo more pain. Here, nuclear medicine is used to detect the reason. Gallium is a radioactive substance that will help in diagnosing infections in bones. This will provide 60% successful results in diagnosis.

Bone scans are used to diagnose any infections in artificial joints. If artificial joints are loosened or infected, they will be diagnosed in a bone scan. Infections in bone (osteomyelits) will be detected in nuclear medicine bone scan only. An x-ray will show them only after days or weeks of infections.

The nuclear medicine scan for detecting infected joints is safe even for people with allergic reactions. However, it is not that much safe for pregnant women and feeding mothers. Normally this scan requires no preparation.

The total dose of radiation is very small and so it will not cause any side effects. Some people may experience vomiting, skin rash etc. However, this will reduce when the radiation is eliminated from the body through urine or stool.

The scanning is particularly powerful in detecting small infections in joints. The scan will diagnose osteomyelits in the first phase itself. However, for detecting some complicated infections, it may require two or three phases of scanning. The second phase will be done normally after three hours of first phase. Regular usage of nuclear medicine and infected joints will be cured.

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