Scintigraphy

Scintigraphy (from Latin scintilla, "spark"), previously also known as scintillography, also known as a gamma scan, is a diagnostic test in nuclear medicine, in which a radiopharmaceutical (a radioisotope attached to a drug) is taken internally, travels to a specific organ or tissue, and emits gamma rays, which are then captured by a gamma camera, an external detector that forms two-dimensional images in a process similar to the capture of X-ray images. Scintigraphy is unlike a diagnostic X-ray where radiation from an external source passes through the body to form an image. Single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and positron emission tomography (PET) also collect 2-D images using gamma cameras, but they collect multiple 2-D images at multiple angles, from which they reconstruct 3-dimensional images, and are therefore classified as separate techniques from scintigraphy.