What is a scan?

There are two ways of doing the scans of your lungs – one looks at how a small amount of radioactive gas gets into the air sacks in your lungs and this involves breathing in the gas from a special breathing machine.
The second involves injecting a small amount of radioactivity into a vein in your arm. This then goes into the blood stream and gives a picture of the blood supply to your lungs.

Preparations for the scan.

There are no special preparations for a lung scan. You can eat drink and take any medication as normal.
If you are pregnant, think you may be pregnant or breast feeding please tell the technician
Please avoid close prolonged contact with small children and babies for 24 hours after your scan.

Is it safe for me to have a scan?

The small amount of radioactive tracer injected is used to take the pictures.  The risk is outweighed by the information that is gained by taking the scan. A doctor will have checked the request to make sure this is the optimal test before we contact you.
If you have any concerns or would like further information, please talk to the person looking after you.
These pictures are taken with a Gamma camera and you will be asked to lie under or sit in front of the camera.

Your results.

Your scans will be looked at by 2 doctors, who will agree the report and this will be sent to the doctor who requested your scan. The reason it is done this way is because your doctor will have all the results from other tests and will be able to tell you how the results if your scans affect your care
Pictures that are abnormal can show areas affected by clots, or problems with the air sacks. Your doctor may decide that  pictures need to be taken with a different sort of scanner, but this will be discussed with you

Information about you.

As part of your care, information will be shared between clinical staff, some of whom you may not meet. It may also be used to help train staff involved in your care. Information we collect may also be used after you have been treated to help us improve the quality of our care, to plan services or to research into new developments.
All information is treated as confidential and is not given to anyone who does not need it. If you have any concerns, please discuss these with the doctor or person looking after you

More Information?

All the staff would like to make your visit as pleasant as possible. If you have any concerns please talk to the person looking after you.

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