There are certain nuclear medicine procedures involved while dealing with any nuclear substances. Generally, feeding mothers are advised not to go through the course of nuclear medicines. However, if it is unavoidable then, breast-feeding should be stopped during insertion of certain radioactive substances. However, there will be no interruption for some few radioactive compounds. The patient should consult the physician.

If the patient has to travel in any public mode of transportation after getting nuclear medicine imaging test, then he\she may face some problems since the radiation in the body will cause problems. Therefore the hospital must give a letter that contains name of the patient, date of nuclear medicine procedure, type of nuclear medicine procedure, type of radiation used and so on.

Nuclear medicine procedures involve inserting radioactive substances in the patient's body. Different parts of body require different parts of radioisotopes. For example, potassium iodine is given to diagnose problems in thyroid glands. The amount of radioactive compound is very small and so it is safe. However, patients getting Technitium-99 for diagnosing cancer growth need to avoid contact with other people particularly children for few hours. This will help to avoid any unnecessary exposure to radiation.

The patient will sometimes require being on empty stomach after midnight before scanning. The doctor may ask the patient to stop smoking several hours before scanning. This is important to get clear images of the organs and tissues. The doctor will advice the patient to take lot of fluid, which helps to empty the bladder frequently.

The patient will be asked to lie on his back on the scanning table and two cameras will be fixed under and above the table. Sometimes, anesthesia will be required.

A physician, who has special training in nuclear medicine procedures, will undertake the scanning procedure. The time required for nuclear medicine scanning will vary from patient to patient depending upon the age, disease etc. The average time required will be 2 to 3 hours. The radiation given to the patient will eliminate after 6 hours through urine or stool.