Bring with you to your appointment your:
- Government-issued health card (OHIP card).
Check in with Nuclear Medicine Reception 15 minutes before your appointment. The technologist will call you when it is time for your scan. The technologist will explain the procedure to you and ask you to consent to the procedure.
The technologist will give you 2 injections before the MUGA scan.
Please tell the technologist if you are pregnant or breastfeeding before receiving any injection.
The first injection does not contain any radioactive material. It will prepare your red blood cells for the radioactive material. After receiving the first injection you can go back to the waiting room.
After 20 to 30 minutes, the technologist will call you back in for the second injection. The second injection contains the radioactive material. This material allows the technologist to take pictures of blood moving through your heart using the gamma camera.
The technologist will ask you to lie on an examination table. The technologist will then place several electrodes on your chest. The electrodes will be attached to an electrocardiogram (ECG) machine. Next, the technologist will take 3 pictures of your heart using the gamma camera. It takes roughly 5 to 10 minutes to take each picture. The technologist will ask you to lie very still while the pictures are taken.
You can resume your normal daily activities after the scan. MUGA scans have no known side effects.
The technologist uploads and processes your scan pictures to a computer database. A nuclear medicine physician or radiologist writes a report on the scan details and sends this report to your doctor. Your doctor will give you the results of the scan.
Please let the technologist know when you will be seeing the doctor for an appointment. An interim report will be written for those patients seeing the doctor immediately.
Your appointment will take between 1 and 1½ hours.
We do our best to stay on time. Unfortunately, your appointment may be delayed by unforeseen circumstances. We recommend that you come prepared for delays. For example, make arrangements for babysitting, elder care and parking so that you can accommodate a longer than usual appointment.
