Are there any risks of the brain SPECT?
The radioactivity used does result in the person's whole body receiving a higher than usual radiation dose similar to the increased radiation received during a commercial airplane flight. Neither case results in permanent, deleterious effects on the human body.
The chemical substance combined with the radioactive test tracer for the brain SPECT injection is so small that it does not disturb the body function, and it also does not cause a medical drug-like effect such as X-ray contrast materials can.
Thus there are no after effects of the brain SPECT scan. However, if the patient cannot remain motionless for the scan, there can be medical effects of sedatives used to quiet a person for the scanning procedure.
