Nuclear Medicine

Services We Offer

Our department offers the full range of diagnostic procedures and radionuclide therapy services providing clinical support to almost all branches of medicine.

We provide bone imaging including whole body, regional and tomographic studies, myocardial perfusion combined with exercise or pharmacological stress testing, lung ventilation and perfusion studies, renal studies, endocrine imaging most commonly for thyroid and parathyroid disease, gallium imaging for tumour and infection evaluation, white cell imaging for infection, hepatobiliary and other gastrointestinal imaging and sentinel lymph node mapping for staging of breast cancer and melanoma. Many less commonly ordered procedures are also available.

We have a busy therapy service with extensive experience in radioiodine therapy for thyrotoxicosis and thyroid cancer, radionuclide synovectomy for some forms of arthritis, palliation of metastatic bone pain and treatment of some neuroendocrine tumours. There is a great potential for growth in the scope of nuclear medicine therapy.

Department Contact Details

Department of Nuclear Medicine
1st Floor G-block (Blue Lifts)
Phone: 61 8 9346 2322
Fax: 61 8 9346 3610

About Us

Nuclear medicine uses radioactive substances in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases and for biomedical research.

The Department of Nuclear Medicine is committed to quality patient care and excellence in the area of clinical service. Headed by Dr Agatha van der Schaaf, the department is staffed by a team of consultant nuclear physicians and radiologists that brings a broad expertise in diagnostic and therapeutic nuclear medicine and other imaging modalities. Skilled technologists and scientific staff support state-of-the-art equipment. Other dedicated team members provide nursing, patient assistance, secretarial and clerical support. The department undertakes training of medical imaging technologists and nuclear physicians and has a strong research interest in the application of functional imaging techniques for improved patient care. The department also houses the Western Australian Positron Emission Tomography Service, a State facility that is staffed by nuclear physicians from all teaching hospitals in Perth.

To produce a nuclear medicine scan a short-lived radioactive isotope, chemically targeted to a specific organ system, is administered, usually intravenously. Abnormality in biochemical or cellular function will alter local uptake of the isotope marker. Two dimensional and 3-D tomographic images are acquired on a specialised gamma camera at various time intervals according to the nature of the study. The scan is interpreted in the context of the clinical setting and after correlation with other imaging. This modality is very sensitive in the early detection of disease, and is useful for monitoring known disease, as most pathological processes will affect cell function before structural changes are evident on radiology. Isotopes used for diagnostic imaging do not have side effects and expose the patient to relatively trivial radiation doses, comparable to those from radiological examinations.

Staff

Dr Agatha van der Schaaf (Head of Department) FRACP
Dr Peter Swift FRACP
Dr Geoffrey Groom FRACP
Dr Peter Robins FRANZCR
Dr Andrew Patrikeos MRCP FRANZCR
Dr Andrew Henderson FRANZCR

WA PET / Cyclotron Service

Established in 2002 the Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Service provides this most advanced form of diagnostic nuclear medicine imaging to all patients in WA. The special isotopes required are produced on-site in a cyclotron located in the basement of G-block. The PET camera uses a different technology from the standard gamma cameras in our department and looks like a CT machine. PET is the most sensitive and accurate technology for detecting, staging and monitoring certain cancers, and has applications in diagnosis of brain disorders and heart disease. PET is available only by specialist referral. A specific referral form, available from the department, needs to be completed by the specialist to comply with mandatory Commonwealth data collection requirements. Further information is available here.

Private Patients

Waiting times are short and private patients will not incur any out-of-pocket expenses. Private in-patients are fully covered by Medicare and their health fund. Externally referred patients from GP surgeries and specialist rooms are fully covered by Medicare. Specific referral forms are not necessary however convenient referral pads are available from the department. A large portion of the income received from private patient billings is used to fund general hospital facilities.

Education and Research Activities

The department is active in collaborative clinical research including the development and implementation of a pulmonary embolism pathway. Current projects include imaging of cerebral dopamine transporters in movement disorders, assessment of parathyroid imaging prior to minimally invasive parathyroid surgery, kidney and lung imaging to assess for radiotherapy-induced injury and sentinel node imaging prior to breast cancer surgery. Members of our department are developing research protocols using PET. The department is closely involved in the rollout of PACS next year.