A gallium scan or gallium 67 scan is a type of
nuclear medicine that uses a
radioactive tracer to obtain images of a specific type of tissue, or disease state of tissue.
Gallium salts like gallium
citrate and gallium
nitrate are used. The form of salt is not important, since it is the freely dissolved gallium ion Ga+3 which is active. For these applications, the
radioactive isotope 67Ga is used. The body generally handles Ga+3 as though it were
ferric, and thus it is bound (and concentrates) in areas of inflammation such as an infection site, and also areas of rapid cell division. This allows such sites to be imaged by nuclear scan techniques.
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A procedure to detect areas of the body where cells are dividing rapidly. It is used to locate cancer cells or areas of inflammation. A very small amount of radioactive gallium is injected into a vein and travels through the bloodstream. The gallium is taken up by rapidly dividing cells in the bones, tissues, and organs and is detected by a scanner.