Diagnostic Tests - PET Scans

With advances in science and medical technology, doctors now have more tools at their disposal for detecting and diagnosing cancer of various types than ever before. While many have heard of MRIs, CAT scans, and x-rays, the PET Scan is a very useful tool that actually shows more detail than the other diagnostic tools.

Positron emission tomography, or PET, is a form of nuclear medicine imaging. The technique produces a three-dimensional, or 3D, image or picture of the functional processes in the body. The PET system detects pairs of gamma rays that are emitted indirectly by a positron-emitting radionuclide, or tracer, which is introduced into the body just before the test. The images developed by the test, including images of tracer concentration, are then reconstructed by computer analysis in a three-dimensional view. In the latest scanners, the reconstruction is frequently produced with the assistance of a CT X-ray scan that is performed on the patient during the same test as the PET scan in the same machine even.

There are a variety of biologically active molecules that can be chosen for a PET scan. FDG is one of these molecules. When this molecule, which is an analogue of glucose, is chosen, the concentration of tracer shows tissue metabolic activity in terms of regional glucose uptake. Use of this tracer results in the most common type of PET scan but there are other tracer molecules that can be used in PET to show the tissue concentration of many other types of molecules or cells of interest.

Like many imaging techniques, PET imaging is used as both a medical and research tool. The diagnostic tool is used heavily in clinical oncology where it is used for medical imaging of tumors and for searching for metastases, or new spots of spreading cancer. This type of imaging is also used for clinical diagnosis of a variety of certain diffuse brain diseases. As an example, PET imaging is used for diffuse brain diseases like those that cause various types of dementia. The imaging system is also important for mapping normal human brain and heart function.

As a research tool, PET is used in pre-clinical studies that utilize animals. The scan allows for repeated investigations into the same subjects. While it may seem intrusive, this repeated testing is extremely valuable in cancer research as it results in a vast increase in the statistical quality of the data as it allows a subject to act as the control for that subject as well. PET imaging also reduces the number of animals needed for a study substantially.

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