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Risks
By Mayo Clinic staffFor most people, SPECT scans are safe. If you receive an injection or infusion of radioactive tracer, you may experience:
- Bleeding, pain or swelling where the needle was inserted in your arm
- Rarely, an allergic reaction to the radioactive tracer
SPECT scans aren't safe for women who are pregnant or breast-feeding because the radioactive tracer may be passed to the developing fetus or the nursing baby. Women of childbearing age may be required to take a pregnancy test before a SPECT procedure.
Risks of radiation
Your health care team uses the lowest amount of radiation possible in order to perform the scan. In general, a SPECT scan exposes you to radiation levels similar to those you might encounter naturally in the environment over the course of a year. Talk to your doctor if you're concerned about your exposure to radiation during a SPECT scan.
- Wernick MN, et al. Emission Tomography: The fundamentals of PET and SPECT. San Diego, Calif.: Elsevier; 2004:146.
- General nuclear medicine. RadiologyInfo. http://www.radiologyinfo.org/en/info.crm?PG=gennuclear. Accessed Jan. 9, 2009.
- Nuclear medicine. American Society of Radiologic Technologists. https://www.asrt.org/content/ThePublic/AboutRadiologicProcedures/Nuclear_Medicine.aspx. Accessed Jan. 9, 2009.
- What is nuclear medicine? Society of Nuclear Medicine. http://interactive.snm.org/index.cfm?PageID=1110&RPID=3106&FileID=5932. Accessed Jan. 12, 2009.
- Computer imaging/tomography. American Heart Association. http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4554. Accessed Jan. 9, 2009.
- Cancer imaging. National Cancer Institute. http://imaging.cancer.gov/imaginginformation/cancerimaging/page5. Accessed Jan. 9, 2009.
