Departments

Medical Departments

Nuclear Conventional Medicine

Presentation

Generalities

As every Nuclear Medicine department, the Nuclear Medicine department of the Jules Bordet Institute offers all the conventional and usual examinations, either by using gamma emitter radionuclides or molecules marked by gamma emitter radioelements (see ‘Request for examinations’). Nevertheless, it has some particularities.

 

Particularities

The Institute has an expertise in examinations that explore the lymphatic and nodal systems.
Something explains the growing importance of the Nuclear Medicine Department within the Jules Bordet Institute : the performance of more and more node biopsies through the ‘sentinel lymph node technique’, using radioactive markers click here for more information).

 

Actually, the technique is generally used for breast malignant tumours (click here) and for melanomas (click here).

 

Other applications to cancers of the ENT area (click here) and of the prostate (click here) are being developed and are also very promising.

 

The Nuclear Medicine Department is the reference unit of the IRIS network as regards ‘lymphology’ (click here). In fact, the Nuclear Medicine techniques allow an easy functional study of various pathologies of the lymphatic system. The lymphoscintigraphic investigations are the isotopic equivalent of radiological lymphography. These techniques are particularly useful in the staging of some oedemas (‘big’ arm post-therapeutic, ‘big legs’ or primary or secondary lymphoedemas) and play a role in the choice of the treatment.
Pierre BOURGEOIS, the former President of the European Society of Lymphology and the former editor-in-chief of the European Journal of Lymphology, holds consultations within the framework of the medical care to patients who are facing these troubles.

• SPECT-CT : click here
   
• The Sentinel Lymph Node in Oncology
  - Introduction : click here
  - In practice in breast cancers, melanomas, cancers of the ENT area and of the prostate: click here
   
• Lymphology : click here

Person in charge : Pr Patrick Flamen

Updating : October 2008