Liv Hospital’s Nuclear Medicine Department Is Transforming Patient Care
The Nuclear Medicine Department at Liv Hospital is at the forefront of using advanced nuclear medicine to personalize the care of individual patients, especially cancer patients. By integrating advanced nuclear medicine techniques into its diagnostics, the Liv Hospital has increased its diagnostic accuracy, which gives doctors more therapeutic options for their patients, especially those fighting cancer.
The Nuclear Medicine Department utilizes a technique called theranostics, which links diagnosis to treatment. Theranostics is not a conventional method. Instead, it is molecular targeting that uses safe radiotracers and isotopes.
The first step in diagnosis in theranostics is to confirm the presence of a disease in the patient’s body by using imaging and identifying it as a specific molecular target. Once located, the diseased area is specifically targeted, and a particle that binds to it is administered. Using this method, only the area affected by the disease is treated, leaving the surrounding healthy tissue unaffected. This is far different from traditional chemotherapy, which relies on drugs and affects the entire body.
The Diagnostic Power of Advanced Diagnostic Imaging
The Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography (PET/CT) is at the core of Live Hospital’s nuclear medicine program. It plays an important role in advanced diagnostic imaging. The PET/CT is different from CT (Computed Tomography) and MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging), which provide details on the anatomy of the patients. Instead, the PET/CT shows the metabolic function of the body.
PET/CT works by administering a radioactive tracer. As the body uses the radioactive tracer, the doctors can trace where the cells are using more energy.
Since many diseases, particularly cancer, consume glucose more than healthy tissue, by noting which cells are showing an elevated metabolic rate, doctors can identify disease before other types of imaging can, leading to important early detection.
PET/CT use helps doctors diagnose and manage patients across multiple medical specialties without the need for exploratory procedures. In oncology, PET/CT scans help oncologists manage the treatment of their patients by allowing them to see how much the cancer has spread, check on the progress of the treatment and search for signs that the cancer has returned. Since the PET/CT scan gives a comprehensive, whole-body assessment, the oncologists can use that data to create the most effective treatment strategies.
Another area of medicine where the PET/CT is beneficial to patients is in assessing heart muscle function. The scan can distinguish between scar tissue that was caused by a heart attack and muscle that is alive, but not receiving enough blood flow. Doctors can then determine whether the patient needs bypass surgery or stents.
PET/CT scans are used in neurology to diagnose and manage brain disorders. For example, in the case of Alzheimer’s disease, the scan will show the areas of the brain that are not using the FDG tracer like normal cells would. This enables the doctor to diagnose the disease earlier. PET/CT can also help epilepsy patients by locating where the seizures start in the brain. This is particularly valuable if surgery is being considered.
Therapy as Precision Intervention
Lutetium-177 (Lu-177) PSMA therapy treats advanced prostate cancer, which has spread to other parts of the body, by delivering radiation to only the cancer cells with limited exposure to the healthy tissue around them.
How it works is simple. Prostate cancer cells release a high level of surface protein called PSMA (Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen). During the PET/CT scan, a tracer is used that binds to PSMA. The tracer binds to cancer cells and appears on the scan, indicating their location in the patient’s body. If the scan confirms the patient has cancer cells present, they are deemed eligible for treatment.
The form of treatment binds the PSMA proteins on the prostate cancer cells, sparing the healthy cells. The Lutetium-17 emits beta radiation at the site, treating the cancer cells.
In treatment-resistant cases, the Nuclear Medicine Department can also administer Actinium-225 (Ac-255) PSMA therapy, which uses a stronger radiation, but over a shorter distance. This treatment is similar to the traditional use of Iodine-131 therapy that treats thyroid cancer and hyperthyroidism and has been a safe and effective treatment for many years.
This targeted treatment is an option for patients whose cancer has not responded to standard chemotherapy or hormone therapy, increasing their chances of living longer, feeling less pain and having a better quality of life.
At the Liv Hospital, there is a Multidisciplinary Tumor Council that includes specialists like nuclear medicine doctors, oncologists, surgeons, radiologists and pathologists who review complex patient cases. This team examines the patient information, such as PET/CT scans and molecular tumor data. As a team, they use their expertise to create personalized treatment plans that utilize the Liv Hospital’s resources.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not substitute for professional medical advice. If you are seeking medical advice, diagnosis or treatment, please consult a medical professional or healthcare provider.
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This story was originally published January 5, 2026 at 1:00 PM.