Damita Thomas

Nuclear Medicine Specialist

2860 Balforn Tower Way Winter Garden FL, 34787 Show map

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Dr. Damita Thomas practices Nuclear Medicine in Winter Garden, FL. Dr. Thomas uses procedures and treatments that apply molecular imaging and molecular therapy. Nuclear Medicine Physicians are trained and certified to provide such procedures as skeletal imaging, glucose metabolic imaging, brain perfusion, blood pool imaging, and thyroid imaging, among many others.

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Damita Thomas

Damita Thomas's Expert Contributions

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What does a nuclear medicine exam entail?
There are two main types of nuclear imaging studies done to evaluate the heart. One is a study that evaluates the motion of the left ventricle (the chamber that pumps blood to the rest of your body), looking at the various areas of the ventricle as your heart beats; it’s called a MUGA. For this test, a small amount of a radioactive substance is objected into your vein and images are acquired to check the motion of the left ventricle as its beating. It takes about 30 minutes. The other type of study is called a nuclear stress test. This test is typically ordered when there is a concern about impaired blood flow to the cardiac muscle, which could reflect a blockage in one of the coronary arteries that supply blood to the left ventricle. It’s done in two parts: after a small amount of a radioactive substance is injected, the first dose used to evaluate blood flow to the left ventricle while you are resting and relaxed (rest) and another dose used to evaluate blood flow to the left ventricle under conditions that simulate exercise (stress). If you can’t walk on a treadmill that increases in speed until you reach your specific maximum heart rate (based on your age), you will be injected with a medication that causes the coronary arteries to dilate which in turn increases blood flow. For both the rest and stress portions of the study, the heart is imaged; the injected radioactive substance demonstrating blood flow uptake to the various areas to the left ventricle. If there are "defects" (areas with decreased uptake) on the stress study not seen on the rest study, then there is concern for ischemia (diminished blood flow) to that territory. This is consistent with a significant blockage of a particular coronary artery god which you may need a stent. If you’ve had a heart attack in the past, the interpreting physician will see a defect on both the stress and rest images, indicating heart muscle that is no longer alive, but scarred (hence no blood flow). I hope this answers your question!! READ MORE
How can nuclear medicine treat cancer?
It depends on the type of NHL your mother has. If she has low grade or follicular lymphoma that has been refractory (or unsuccessfully treated by other agents), she is a candidate to receive this therapy. It is a radioimmunotherapy: ‘radio’ because it uses a radioactive isotope that, as it decays, emits energy that kills the lymphoma cells; and ‘immuno’ because it is an antibody that attaches to a specific receptor found in abundance. READ MORE
What is the nuclear medicine treatment for prostrate cancer?
There are several PSMA ligand based radiotherapies that use a substance that is similar to PSMA (prostate specific membrane antigen, a protein found on normal and cancerous prostate tissue). This ligand has an isotope that is radioactive that, as it decays, releases energy that destroys prostrate cancer cells. This happens because prostate cancer cell overexpress PSMA receptors and the radiolabeled PSMA ligand will bind to these receptors on prostrate cancer cells, with the energy released from decay of the attached radioactive isotope resulting in killing of the prostate cancer cell. Unfortunately, none of these agents are FDA approved for use in the US. Hope this helps! READ MORE
Can nuclear medicine treat hyperthyroidism?
Yes, depending on the severity of disease. When hyperthyroidism becomes difficult or refractory to oral medication, total thyroid ablation with radiolabeled iodine is performed. Your thyroid uses iodine to make thyroid hormone. I-131sodium iodine, the therapeutic agent used to treat hyperthyroidism, exploits this function of iodine as it is an isotope of iodine that is radioactive. The radioactivity once in the thyroid slowly destroys the thyroid gland, rendering one thyroid or without thyroid tissue. Since thyroid hormone is needed for various body homeostasis functions, following destruction (or radioablation), an endocrinologist will prescribe thyroid hormone that the patient has to take for the rest of their life. The first few months, doses may change significantly as the right level of thyroid hormone needed varies with each person. Hope this helps! READ MORE
How is nuclear medicine used to treat thyroid cancer?
Thyroid cells use iodine to make thyroid hormone, which is responsible for a myriad of regulatory functions in the body. As such, when a small amount of the radioactive isotope of iodine is given orally, I-131, it is taken up by both normal and cancer thyroid cells. Typically, after a diagnosis of thyroid cancer, surgery is performed to removed the entire gland. Even in the hands of the best surgeon, there is often residual thyroid tissue remaining in the neck as surgeons are especially careful when operating in the neck due to multiple vascular and nerve structures in such a compact space. So, in order to "clean up" any minute deposits of thyroid tissue, that can either be normal or cancerous, radioactive I-131 is given to kill or "ablate" any thyroid cells. Ablation is also helpful because it makes it easier to check if there is recurrence in the future by checking a protein in your blood called thyroglobulin, that is made by thyroid tissue. Since your gland will be removed and ablation administered to destroy any remaining normal or cancer thyroid cells, a thyroglobulin level drawn from your blood several months later should be undetectable. If it is detectable, then there is concern that there is recurrent disease. A caveat to this is some people develop antibodies to thyroglobulin which makes a blood levels of the protein unreliable. As such, follow-up is based solely on imaging (neck ultrasound which is done even if a person doesn’t make antibodies to thyroglobulin, a I-123 iodine scan, which you may get before ablation as well to assess how much residual tissue is in your neck, and sometimes a PET/CT if warranted). The size and type of thyroid cancer you have will determine the dose you receive. People hear "radioactive" and are immediately afraid something weird will happen to them or they it’s dangerous. This is one of the safest, most effective treatments for thyroid cancer; so much so that it has been essentially unchanged and performed for over 70 years. I hope this answers your question! READ MORE
Using radiation with prostate cancer
The 'seeds' are polymers that are implanted into the prostate. They contain the radiation that irradiated the prostrate tissue over time. READ MORE