Please report to Admitting 15 minutes before your scheduled exam time.
PREP: Empty bowel and bladder before beginning the procedure.
PURPOSE: Detection and localization of bleeding sites in patients with active or intermittent gastrointestinal bleeding.
WHAT TO EXPECT: You will be asked to lie on a scanning table for approximately 2 hours. The technologist will place a needle in a vein of your arm to draw blood. The needle will remain in the arm until the mixing (tagging) process is complete which is about 20 minutes. The blood which was drawn from you will be mixed (tagged) with a radioactive isotope and then injected back into you through the needle still in your arm. A camera will be positioned over your abdomen for the scan. Imaging will take place for one hour. You will need to lie completely still during the scan.
TIME FRAME: 2 hours.
POSSIBLE COMPLICATIONS: Minimal to no side effects from the radioactive isotope.
IF YOU ARE PREGNANT, INFORM THE TECHNOLOGIST BEFORE THE EXAM