PET/CT
What is PET/CT?
PET/CT combines the strengths of Positron Emission Tomography (PET) with those of Computed
Tomography (CT) to produce images that can be
used to help diagnose a number of diseases. PET is
a non-invasive, nuclear-medicine procedure that, by visualizing the metabolic
processes occurring in the body, is
able to detect certain diseases before other imaging
modalities can. By injecting a
radioactive tracer into the body and tracking the
tracer’s distribution, PET is able to identify chemical
and physiological changes related to metabolism.
This is important since the metabolic changes
shown by PET often occur before structural
changes develop. CT produces a detailed anatomic
map of the body and shows structural abnormalities
in minute detail.
By combining PET with CT, physicians can exactly
localize the sites of an abnormality identified on
PET by superimposing the PET and CT data on
one image. Multiple studies in the literature now
show that PET/CT results in superior sensitivity,
specificity, and interpreter confidence in staging
and re-staging a variety of cancers. PET/CT also
has the advantage of greater speed than conventional
PET due to the use of an extremely fast CT
acquisition for attenuation correction purposes.
Therefore, the combined PET/CT scan, which
includes both the PET and the CT data, is acquired
in about 20 minutes for most patients—about 15 minutes less than the PET alone required
on our former scanner.
The Benefits of PET/CT
- PET/CT is a clinically
proven, cost-effective and
safe method for imaging
a variety of cancers,
including colon cancer,
lung cancer, lymphoma,
and breast cancer, as well
as heart disease and
certain neurological
disorders.
- PET/CT may eliminate the
need for other invasive
procedures and, by
correctly staging and
re-staging cancers, may
prevent unnecessary
surgical procedures.
- PET/CT can demonstrate
certain pathological
changes long before they
would be evident on CT
or MRI alone.
Back |
