Médecine nucléaire chez les animaux de compagnie

Nuclear medicine has received little attention in small animal practice due to logistic and regulation constrains associated with handling of artificial radioelement. Instrumentation includes a gamma camera to detect radioactivity emitted most often by 99m-Technetium linked to a radiopharmaceutical with a specific metabolism associated with the target organ. Images acquired are of poor spatial resolution, but are unique because of their functional aspect. Static images or dynamic series can be acquired. Images can be manipulated and treated to extract quantitative indices. In small animals, scintigraphy is used for the diagnosis of thyroid disorders, porto-systemic shunts, occult bony lesions, pulmonary thromboembolism, and for renal functional imaging.