Nuclear medicine involves the use of small amounts of radioactive materials to help diagnose and treat a variety of diseases. While other diagnostic tests like x-ray or ultrasound can determine the presence of disease based on structural appearance, nuclear medicine can determine the cause of the medical problem based on the function of the organ or tissue, rather than the changes in structure. Functional abnormalities usually precede structural changes in many disease entities. Nuclear Medicine procedures can often identify abnormalities very early in the course of the disease and can provide unique information to referring clinicians. This allows the disease to be treated early on during its course, when there may be a better prognosis.

Our nuclear medicine division at McMaster University includes a dynamic community of physicians, scientists, technologists, and medical administrative staff who are actively involved in clinical service, research, and education. Our services are provided in large academic centers in Hamilton: St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton and Hamilton Health Sciences. The latter includes the following hospitals: Hamilton General Hospital, Juravinski Hospital and Cancer Centre, and McMaster University Medical Centre. The division combines the latest imaging techniques in Nuclear Medicine while providing a wide range of subspecialized studies with state-of-the-art scanning equipment and expert staff. In addition to diagnostic applications, we are directly involved in the therapeutic applications of Nuclear Medicine including thyroid disease treatment and targeted radioligand therapies used to treat different types of cancer.

In our division, the main goal is to provide the most appropriate and efficient care for patients in need of our diagnostic or therapeutic services. Our healthcare team works together to keep our patients fully informed of procedure preparation and protocol. We always ensure that the amount of radiation in a typical nuclear imaging procedure is kept safe and comparable with that received during a standard diagnostic x-ray.  We consistently strive to ensure an environment that allows patients to feel safe and well taken care of.