Parathyroid scan

What is it?

A parathyroid scan is able to visualise a parathyroid with elevated function and/or an enlarged parathyroid due to an adenoma (benign glandular tissue).

Test procedure

Pregnancy and breastfeeding

Are you pregnant or do you think you may be pregnant? Or are you breastfeeding? Please tell the physician before the injection. The test will not be performed if you are pregnant. If you are not sure whether you are pregnant or not, the test will be postponed until you are certain.

If you are breastfeeding, make sure to discuss this with the physician before the test. You will receive additional instructions about how to avoid unnecessary radiation exposure to your child.

Preparation for the test

You do not need to be fasting for this test. Talk with your physician about whether you may take your regular medication.

A specific product will be ordered for you before the test. For this reason, it is very important that you let the department know (at least five days beforehand) if you are not able to come to your appointment.

Test procedure

You must not eat or drink anything for one whole day prior to the test. In the morning, a small quantity of radioacive material will be administered intravenously in your arm. This substance will take a few hours to be absorbed. You will be told to check in with the department after a certain period of time. In the meantime, you may leave the hospital.

At the agreed-upon time in the afternoon, another small quantity of radioactive substance will be administered. After five minutes, the first image will be taken. This lasts five minutes, followed by a fifteen-minute break. Afterwards, over the course of a half hour, a second set of images will be taken.

After the test

If you are not admitted to the hospital, you can resume your normal activities after the test.

Safety and radiation

There are essentially no side effects: the injected product causes no abnormal sensations and only in very rare cases causes (very mild) allergic reactions. The injected radioactive material does constitute a dose of radiation, but it is very small (about as much as for a regular CT scan).

The quantity of radiation that you are exposed to during the test is not higher or lower depending on the number of images taken.

It is recommended that children younger than the age of 6 do not sit on your lap for more than half an hour during the first six hours after the test. Playing, feeding, changing sheets and nappies and other daily activities are no problem.

Also do your best to avoid long (longer than one hour) of close contact (less than one metre) with pregnant women during the first six hours.