HIDA Scans and the Waves in It
By Malorie Davis and Norma Morrison
What is a HIDA Scan?
A Hida Scan is a simple procedure used to determine the contractile function of the gallbladder and how well does the gallbladder squeeze out the bile. To start the procedure you will recieve an injection in the patients arm of a radioactive compound that will be filtered by his/her liver, collected in your gallbladder, and excreted into the bowel. This radioactive material is of a very low level and is considered to be safe by physicians. Patients usually don't have any side affects from the injection. For the test patient must lie on an imaging table underneath a nuclear scanner, which takes pictures of the patients biliary tract over the course of about two hours. Multiple pictures are taken of the patients abdominal area. After the procedure is finished the images are scanned by a radiologist, who then interprets the results.