Diagnostic Agent

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• QHow can I protect others from radiation while I have radioiodine therapy?

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  A Aurora Health Care answered

  After radioiodine therapy (used to treat overactive thyroid glands and thyroid cancers), follow the steps below to protect others from being exposed to the radioiodine. Your doctor may ask you to follow these steps for several weeks:

  • Use your own toilet if possible; flush twice after each use.
  • Wash your hands often. Bathe or shower daily.
  • Drink normal amounts of fluid (six to eight glasses of water a day).
  • Use disposable forks, knives, and spoons, or wash yours separately from others.
  • Sleep alone and avoid intimate contact.
  • Wash your clothes and linens separately. Radioiodine dissolves in water; there's no need to treat the washing machine between loads.
  • Do not prepare foods for others that require a lot of handling -- for example, kneading bread.
  • Carry information about your treatment with you if you are traveling in public areas, such as airports and subways. This will alert those who may be screening for radioactive materials.
  • Avoid becoming pregnant or fathering a child for six months after treatment.
• QWhat is a cosyntropin (Cortrosyn) stimulation test?

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  A Aurora Health Care answered

  Your doctor has ordered a cosyntropin (Cortrosyn) stimulation test to see how well your adrenal glands are working. The adrenal glands are small structures that are on top of your kidneys. They make a hormone called cortisol, which is responsible for regulating many of your body's functions. This test will tell your doctor if your adrenal glands are making enough cortisol.
• QWhat is oxytocin?

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  A Dr. Michael Roizen, MD , Internal Medicine, answered

  Oxytocin is a powerful chemical that makes you feel intimacy and community. Oxytocin - and really the entire symphony of brain chemicals influencing love - is one reason why 99 percent of humans live in pair bonds. That's not only marriage, but any intimate relationship with one strong partner, be it a spouse, a significant other, a parent, sibling, a close friend, or your cat (women desire this community feeling more than men). From a survival-of-the-species point of view, it's important that we live in communities - hence the evolution of these biochemical effects.
  When dopamine levels begin to drop after the early thrill of romantic love begins to wane, oxytocin can keep a couple close. And without it, there can be little biological incentive to stay in a relationship. When apparently unromantic researchers blocked oxytocin in prairie voles (animals that mate for life), those little buggers got right out of their holes, gathered up their music collections, and moved on out. No oxytocin, no intimacy, no lifelong love. Oxytocin, by the way, is also increased by talking. Maybe that's why communication is so important in relationships.
  Nevertheless, after around four years, the chemical tide that drives human to stick together starts to recede. The timing isn't a coincidence since the potentially created offspring will no longer be entirely dependent on the mother, leaving her better able to provide for herself and her children. Without chemical handcuffs, the fathers are more prone to leave, which is why the relationship needs to move from being purely romantic to a deeper level of beauty to create a fertile field for lifelong pair bonding.

• QWhat is Miraluma?

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  A Stacy Wiegman, PharmD , Pharmacy, answered

  Miraluma, the kit preparation for technetium Tc99m sestamibi for injection, is a medication known as a myocardial perfusion agent. It can help your doctor diagnose coronary artery disease by locating reversible heart defects (myocardial ischemia) or irreversible heart defects (infarction). It also is used in breast imaging to identify breast lesions after an abnormal mammogram or after a lump is felt. This drug is also marketed under the brand name Cardolite.
   
• QWhat should I expect during a cosyntropin (Cortrosyn) stimulation test?

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  A Aurora Health Care answered

  You can expect the following during a cosyntropin (Cortrosyn) stimulation test:

  • You will be lying down. A nurse and a technician will do the test.
  • Your blood pressure, temperature, and pulse will be checked.
  • The technician will draw a sample of blood from your arm.
  • The nurse will insert an intravenous catheter (IV) into your arm or hand. This IV will then be flushed with a small amount of saline.
  • A medicine called cosyntropin will be injected into the IV. This will take about one minute. During this injection, you may feel warm or flushed, or have a "butterfly" feeling in your stomach. Some people have an empty stomach feeling or slight nausea. These feelings go away in one to two minutes.
  • After the medicine is injected, the nurse will inject a small amount of saline again.
  • At 30 and 60 minutes after the injection of cosyntropin, the technician will draw a blood sample from your arm.
• QHow much should I limit my contact with others after radioiodine therapy?

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  A Aurora Health Care answered

  After radioiodine therapy (used to treat overactive thyroid glands and thyroid cancers), avoid long periods of close contact with others for several days. If you care for an infant at home, ask someone else to take care of the infant for a few days. You may stay in the same house but limit close contact with people, especially small children and pregnant women.
• QWhat is inulin?

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  A Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics answered

  Inulin is a fiber source added to some food products to increase bulk and improve palatability. Although inulin is found naturally in fruits and vegetables, it is commonly obtained commercially as an extract of chicory root. Inulin can be found in yogurt, high fiber breakfast bars, bread and other similar foods. Additional studies on isolated fibers like inulin will help identify any potential health benefits of dietary fibers like inulin.

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• QHow can oxytocin help treat depression?

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  A Dr. Kent A. Holtorf, MD , Endocrinology Diabetes & Metabolism, answered

  The hormone oxytocin, given by injection or via nasal spray, can be very effective treatment for depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Oxytocin is the trust hormone, being secreted by the pituitary gland in conjunction with close personal interactions and child birth to build that sense of closeness and bonding. It is generally without any side effects, but its benefits are generally unknown by most physicians. It can cure social phobias and be very effective for depression, anxiety and PTSD.
• QWhat role does oxytocin play in helping lose weight?

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  A Dr. Mehmet Oz, MD , Cardiology (Cardiovascular Disease), answered

  Seeking positive interactions with other people on a physical level and a psychological level can help you shed weight, and maintain a healthy weight. How? Evidence shows that increased amounts of oxytocin (a hormone that makes you feel good and calm) may be able to decrease blood pressure and lower the effects of stress. This raises levels of a substance called CCK, which helps you control appetite.
  
  Research shows that you increase oxytocin levels is through an increase in social interaction and touch. If nothing else, it's a darn good reason to schedule that weekly massage. And it may help reinforce why things such as meditation and hypnosis—suspected to increase oxytocin—can be helpful with weight loss. Also, while there's as much data on this as on binge eating in supermodels, the fear of touch and lack of oxytocin release may be one reason while the abused individual often has weight problems.

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• QWhat is Ablavar (gadofosveset trisodium)?

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  A Stacy Wiegman, PharmD , Pharmacy, answered

  Ablavar (gadofosveset) is a solution that helps make blood vessels and major arteries clearly visible on a magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) scan, thereby aiding in the diagnosis of heart and circulatory conditions.
  
  A doctor may inject you with Ablavar just before giving you an MRA scan. Ablavar is a contrast agent, which shows up on an MRA, and helps the computer to detect complications such as blocked arteries or other damages to the blood vessels.