Nuclear Medicine at SMG Earns ACR Re-accreditation
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Summit Medical Group’s Nuclear Medicine Service received approval for re-accreditation by the American College of Radiology (ACR) for January 2010 through January 2013. ACR accreditation is awarded to institutions that provide quality care and ensure patient safety in nuclear imaging.
Founded in 1923, the ACR is a professional medical organization comprised of diagnostic radiologists, radiation oncologists, interventional radiologists, nuclear medicine physicians, and medical physicists.
Nuclear medicine studies at Summit Medical Group include the specialties of cardiology, endocrinology, oncology, and imaging/radiology. For people with cardiac, or thyroid, or cancer problems, nuclear imaging uses safe, painless, and cost-effective techniques to image the body and treat disease. “Nuclear stress testing is an extremely accurate method of determining if chest pain is caused by severe coronary blockages,” said Robert D. Slama, MD, FACC, Chief of Cardiology at Summit Medical Group. Nuclear medicine imaging is unique because it provides doctors with information about both the structure and function of the body.
Cancer patients receiving chemotherapy are often monitored for chemotherapy-related cardiac abnormalities using a multigated acquisition (MUGA) scan, according to Michael B. Wax, MD, head of Oncology at Summit Medical Group. “For patients with thyroid abnormalities, nuclear medicine studies allow diagnosis and treatment and with ultrasound provide full thyroid services,” said Summit Medical Group endocrinologist Robert Rosenbaum, MD, FACP, FACE.
Nuclear imaging often allows physicians to identify abnormalities early in the progress of a disease, before many medical problems are apparent with other diagnostic tests. It is a way to gather medical information that would otherwise be unavailable, require surgery, or necessitate more expensive diagnostic tests.
