Positron Emission Tomography (PET)
What Is a PET scan?
Positron emission tomography, or PET, is a non-invasive,
nuclear medicine procedure that is able to detect certain diseases
before other imaging procedures, such as CT scan and magnetic MRI,
can. During a PET scan, a radioactive tracer is injected into the
body and is tracked as it moves through organs. Because of this,
PET is able to detect chemical and physiological changes related
to metabolism. With CT and MRI scans, physicians are only able to
view anatomy and tissue structure. Because of how it works, PET
is able to detect illnesses much earlier, since metabolic changes
occur before changes in organs and tissues.
PET scan of lung cancer
(10.1 mCi 3min em, 45 sec tr)
Images courtesy of University of Sherbrooke
Although PET technology has been used in research
since the early 1970s, the use of PET for diagnosing illness only
became common in the late 1990s, when it was discovered that it
had many applications for the detection and the treatment of cancer.
PET is mainly used to:
- evaluate lung tumors,
-
stage and restage various tumors,
-
determine tumor response to radiation and/or
chemotherapy,
-
diagnose recurrence of tumor growth after surgical
removal,
-
decide the best location for biopsying a suspected
tumor,
-
differentiate radiation necrosis from new tumor
growth.
Last year more than 200,000 PET scans were performed
at more than 700 sites in the United States.
For more information about PET at Rhode Island Hospital
or to schedule an physician-referred appointment, please call 401-444-7383.
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