Nuclear imaging
Allegheny's Nuclear Cardiology Program is staffed by physicians, nurses and technologists experienced in comprehensive isotope-based imaging for the diagnosis of heart disease.A team of board certified specialists, who perform nearly 5,000 procedures each year, leads the program — which is available at the hospital and two sites in the community, Allegheny Imaging of McCandless and the Robinson Town Centre. Allegheny's nuclear cardiology laboratories are accredited by ICANL, the Intersocietal Commission for Accreditation of Nuclear Medicine Laboratories and also are among a few in the region to participate in a thorough, peer-review quality assurance program.
Allegheny's program remains committed to first-rate service for its patients and referring physicians, able to perform most studies within 24 hours and, in many cases, offer same-day service. Through its Internet-based electronic documentation system, reports are generated and disseminated within hours of test completion.
Allegheny's nuclear cardiology program excels in three areas:
Stress perfusion testing with gated wall motion and attenuation correction to evaluate the presence and severity of coronary artery disease, as well as chest-pain syndromes. Nuclear cardiologists introduce radioactive isotopes to assess the presence and severity of heart disease while the patient is at rest and during exercise. For patients who cannot exercise, Allegheny physicians can safely use drugs such as adenosine to temporarily simulate the effects of exercise on the heart. Allegheny's nuclear lab is one of few that offers combination exercise/pharmacologic stress testing, improving image quality with less time and fewer side effects than stand-alone exercise or pharmacologic stress testing. Allegheny also provides sophisticated SPECT stress perfusion imaging, which gives nuclear cardiologists a three-dimensional view of the heart under stress — ultimately producing more accurate imagery of abnormal blood flow and the presence of heart disease.< Back to Cardiac Imaging
Myocardial viability testing to evaluate patterns and extent of injury in heart-muscle tissue. This information allows physicians to identify areas of the heart that can respond to revascularization therapies and therefore contribute to improved heart function.
MUGA (multiple gated acquisition) scans, which provide precise information on left and right ventricular ejection fractions are particularly useful in evaluating the effects of radiation and chemotherapy on the heart.
