What’s a PET scan and how does it help doctor’s fight cancer?

Yesterday my cancer doctor said that before that I will need a PET scan before they start my chemo for cancer that in my skull/head of which was removed in on April 14,2008. The tumor was about the size of a small orange.

PET is an acronym for Positron Emission Tomography.

Many PET scanners are now actually PET/CTs. That is a PET scanner with a CT (Computerized Tomography, an advanced type of x-ray scanner) scanner in front.

Depending on the model of scanner and whether a partial or full body scan is being performed, scans can take between 10 mins and 45 mins.

Sometime before your appointment, often shortly before, you will be advised regarding dietary restrictions you should follow the day before you appointment. Typically about an hour before you are to be scanned, you will be injected with an radioisotope which has been bonded with sugars (normally FDG). Cancerous growths takeup sugar at far higher rates than normal tissue. For this reason the radioisotope will gather disproportionately in any cancerous sites. And this is the reason for the above mentioned dietary restrictions, it is to control the amount of sugar already available in your body.

The PET scanner takes images of how your body is functioning. That is how it is metabolizing sugars. Areas of interest show up as bright spots on the final image. The radioisotope will react with your body to emit photons (particles of light) that the PET scanner will detect.

PET imaging has proven very effective in detecting cancer and in staging treatment. In some cases, even hours after a chemo treatment, a PET scan can determine if the treatment is impairing the cancerous growth. Followup studies with PET scans can ensure that all the growth was removed with surgery, and that no growths have reappeared, in the original area or any where else.

PET imaging has played a significant role in the increasingly successful rates of cancer treatment we now have.

PET imaging can also be used for other purposes, among other things brain and Alzheimer studies have become common, but I thought your interest primarily lay with cancer diagnosis and treatment.

I hope this answers your questions.

Veridian 05-12309 Prism Series Aluminum Single Head Nurse Stethoscope, Orange $5.35 Our most economical single head nurse stethoscope offers a lightweight anodized aluminum chestpiece with color-coordinating diaphragm retaining ring. includes: latex-free orange stethoscope with soft vinyl eartips and spare set of mushroom eartips….

Veridian 05-12409 Prism Series Aluminum Single Head Nurse Stethoscope, Orange $5.35 Our most economical single head nurse stethoscope offers a lightweight anodized aluminum chestpiece with color-coordinating diaphragm retaining ring. includes: latex-free orange stethoscope with soft vinyl eartips and spare set of mushroom eartips….

Don’t listen to the voices in your head Listen to your Nurse Orange Flame Hat / Baseball Cap $17.99 T-ShirtFrenzy offers over 30,000 designs on tons of products to offer millions of variations. You can search our store for something for everyone on your gift list or shop for yourself (our personal favorite). Please contact us with questions….

Don’t listen to the voices in your head Listen to your Nurse Practitioner Orange Flame Hat / Baseball Cap $17.99 T-ShirtFrenzy offers over 30,000 designs on tons of products to offer millions of variations. You can search our store for something for everyone on your gift list or shop for yourself (our personal favorite). Please contact us with questions….

Don’t listen to the voices in your head Listen to your Student Nurse Orange Flame Hat / Baseball Cap $17.99 T-ShirtFrenzy offers over 30,000 designs on tons of products to offer millions of variations. You can search our store for something for everyone on your gift list or shop for yourself (our personal favorite). Please contact us with questions….