Veterinary nuclear medicine.

The veterinary use of radionuclide techniques dates back to the mid-sixties [1, 2], but its more extensive use dates back to the past two decades. In Central and Eastern Europe, it is still in its infancy with only one large research centre, in Budapest, Hungary. Veterinary nuclear medicine is focused mainly on four major issues: bone scintigraphy — with the majority of applications in horses, veterinary endocrinology — dealing mainly with the problems of hyperthyreosis in cats and hypothyreosis in dogs, portosystemic shunts in small animals and veterinary oncology, however, most radionuclide techniques applied to humans can be applied to most animals. There is little awareness of the usefulness of radionuclide studies in veterinary practice among the nuclear medicine community. Therefore, we decided to describe some of its applications.