Nuclear medicine
Nuclear medicine uses small amounts of radioactive substances to detect or treat disease. At Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA), our nuclear medicine specialists are part of nearly every patient’s care. They do imaging scans and read them to diagnose, stage and monitor cancer. They also provide therapies to stop or reverse cancer growth.
Nuclear medicine imaging
Imaging methods like X-ray, ultrasound and computed tomography (CT) are good at showing structures inside your body. They tell us about the size, shape and position of things. This includes both normal structures, like bones and organs, and abnormal masses, like cancerous tumors.
Nuclear medicine scans do something else, too. Along with making pictures of the structures, these scans give your physicians details about your body’s function, or how it is working. They allow us to measure processes in and around your cells. The results tell us about the cells’ health.
Nuclear medicine therapies
Physicians are always working on better ways to stop cancer cells while doing the least harm to the body’s healthy cells. Nuclear medicine therapies are one of these ways. They deliver radiation directly to cancer cells using radioactive drugs.
This is an area of active research among scientists and physicians. Studies are happening right now, including at SCCA, to find new options for treating many types of cancer. SCCA is a leader in offering nuclear medicine therapies for neuroendocrine tumors (NETs), prostate cancer and other diseases.
Lutetium-177 dotatate (Lutathera)
Lu-177 dotatate is a nuclear medicine therapy. It is a type of peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT) used mainly for neuroendocrine tumors (NETs).
PRRT combines a compound called a peptide with a radioactive element, called a radionuclide. The peptide finds and binds to cancer cells. It delivers the radionuclide. Then the radionuclide emits energy (radioactivity) that damages the cancer cells.
PRRT may help:
- Relieve cancer symptoms and improve the quality of life
- Stop or slow growth of tumors or shrink tumors
Care team
A team of nuclear medicine experts will plan and provide your care and support you throughout the process.