(Scintillation Camera, Scintillation Gamma Camera, Gamma Scintillation Camera or Anger Gamma Camera) A gamma camera is an imaging device used in nuclear medicine to scan patients who have been injected, inhaled, or ingested with small amounts of radioactive materials emitting gamma rays. The gamma camera records the quantity and distribution of the radionuclide that is attracted to a specific organ or tissue of interest.
The first gamma camera was developed and introduced by Hal O. Anger in 1957/58. The structure hasn't changed by today. A gamma camera consists of:

Through this design the simultaneous registration of gamma ray photons is possible, the computer further allows dynamic imaging.

See also Pinhole, Elution, Center of Rotation, First Pass Scintigraphy, and Anger Hal Oscar.

(GBPS) The gated blood pool scintigraphy is an examination to evaluate the ventricular performance. This scintigraphic blood pool imaging uses an electrocardiographic synchronizer or gating device to acquire data during repeated heart cycles at specific times in the heart cycle. Radionuclides, for example 99mTc-humanserumalbumin (HSA), are used as intravascular tracers.
GBPS allows to determinate the left ventricular function with heart minute volume, ejection fraction (EF) at rest and under exercise. Single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) versus planar scintigraphic imaging improves cardiac evaluation due to the three dimensional nature. The GBPS method is not suitable to analyze the right ventricular function; that is best evaluated by first-pass ventriculography.
Echocardiography vs. GBPS has important disadvantages due to problems in quantitative evaluation, in patients with anatomic variations and dyskinetic left ventricles.

See also Myocardial Perfusion Imaging.

The common radionuclide used for inflammation scintigraphy is 67Ga-citrate, which accumulates in inflammatory lesions and certain neoplasms. A 67 gallium scan may include scintigrams of the whole body or a specific region, performed after i.v. injection. Additionally, a single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) can be performed. A pathological process presents itself as activity enrichment.

Ion particles accelerated in a cyclotron are diverted by a magnetic field to a circular course until a desired energy is reached. The ion beam resulting from this procedure is e.g. used for the production of radionuclides.

See also Ion, Cyclotron.

Characterization of atoms by their nuclear properties, as the number of protons and the number of neutrons. The different nuclides of an element are its isotopes (equal proton number, but different neutron numbers). Isomers of this particular nuclide are equal in the proton and mass numbers, but differ in their energy content. Unstable nuclides which are radioactive are called radionuclides.

See also Isotope, Isomer and Decay.