Abscess scan - radioactive

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The nuclear medicine scan is painless. There may be some discomfort lying flat and still on the scanning table for a short period of time.

This test is used to identify an abscess in the body when a person has signs and symptoms of sepsis, or your health care provider wants to know the cause of surgical complications.

White blood cells are the body's means of fighting infection, and this test allows your health care provider to follow these cells and see if they are gathering around a site of infection. It is expected that there will be groupings of white blood cells in the liver, spleen, and bone marrow, but if groupings of cells exist elsewhere, an abscess or other inflammatory process is possible.

Review Date: 10/28/2008
Reviewed By: David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org).

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