A technologist will explain the entire process to you prior to starting the exam.  He/she will also ask you some health history questions, which will help our radiologist interpret your exam.

For the first day a technologist will give you a capsule containing a tracer amount of radioactive iodine.  You will be instructed not to eat for about another 2 hours.

On the second day we will have you sitting in a chair while we measure how much of the radioactive iodine your thyroid has taken up (uptake portion of exam).  If your thyroid measurement is too low, we will not be able to proceed with the scan portion. 

For the scan portion, a technologist will give you an intravenous (IV) injection of another radioactive material to help us visualize your thyroid gland. We will wait about 30 minutes before we can start imaging. 

For the images, you will be lying flat on our scanning bed while the camera is rotated to different positions around your neck area.  These images will take about another 30 minutes.

If you have any technical questions specific to this procedure, please don’t hesitate to ask the technologist at scan time.  All clinical questions should be directed to your physician.

A report will be sent to your ordering physician.

An uptake and scan is a 2 consecutive day procedure.  For the first day you will probably be in our department for about 15 minutes.

(If your physician had requested a multiple uptake, you will need to return 3 hours after you swallow the capsule for about another 15 minutes.)

The second day you will be with us for about 90 minutes. These tests can be scheduled individually.  The appointment desk will give special instructions as needed.