Nuclear medicine is a new medical speciality that uses safe, painless and cost-effective techniques to image the function of various organs and treat diseases. Nuclear medicine imaging is unique in that it demonstrates organ function and structure at the same time, in contrast to diagnostic radiology, which is based upon structural anatomy. It is a way to gather medical information that may otherwise be difficult to obtain or requires more expensive diagnostic tests. Nuclear medicine imaging procedures help to identify abnormalities very early in the progression of a disease long before some medical problems are apparent with other diagnostic tests.

This is based on the fact that the functional changes appear much before the structural changes in the evolution of organ dysfunction. This early detection allows a disease to be treated early in its course when there may be a more successful prognosis. Nuclear studies require the administration of less than a microgram of the radioactive substance. The levels of radiation delivered in radio nuclide studies are often less than, or comparable to, equivalent of to a single X-ray. The radiation risk received during a nuclear study is generally at a level considered negligible by the International Commission on Radiological Protection(ICRP 1977).