August is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, and one expert at Stanford discusses how nuclear medicine diagnostic scans are helping treat children with cancer.
A small amount of radioactive drug allows doctors to see inside the body. The scans can help diagnose lymphoma, thyroid and bone cancers and can help doctors plan treatments as well as evaluate how cancer is responding to treatments.
Dr. Helen Nadel, a pediatric physician at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford, says the new method is safe and can improve the quality of life of patients.
"Referring physicans are very happy with results that are occurring with these new techniques," Nadel said. "And the parents and kids themselves are noticing the effects and the improvements we can see."
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Nadel says the scans can also help manage ongoing care by early detection of the cancer coming back.
