What is PET Scan?
The PET in PET Scan stands for Positron Emission Tomography. It’s a type of diagnostic imaging scan that helps in the diagnosis of specific diseases, most notably cancer.
It’s one of the most important tools used in the diagnosis of cancer as it helps detect and identify the location of cancer cells inside a person’s body. It helps doctors decide the best course of treatment, monitor the effects of ongoing treatment, and detect a recurrence of cancer.
Do all Cancers show up on PET Scan?
Although a PET Scan helps diagnose cancer and the location of cancer cells inside the body, in some cases, few types of cancers may not show up on the scan.
The scan helps identify cell growth, but not all cancer types can be detected. Hence, additional tests are generally required to determine whether the cell growth is cancerous or noncancerous and complete the diagnosis.
How can PET Scan help diagnose new or recurrent Cancer?
The PET scan procedure involves doctors injecting a radioactive substance named 18F-FDG (glucose analogue). After a waiting period of around 60 minutes, scan is performed in the PET-CT machine.
Images are captured on the monitor, which depicts the distribution of radiotracer inside the body. The areas with high radiotracer concentration inside the body shown on the screen as bright spots, which are generally cancer cells.
What does PET Scan show about Cancer?
The PET scan helps determine the level and spread of cancer inside a person’s body.
It is able to identify the extent of disease compared to CT scans alone. Hence, PET scan is usually conducted in the initial staging, interim & follow-up testing to determine how the cancer is responding.
Conclusion
To summarise, PET -CT scan assumes a significant role in the diagnosis, diagnosis, staging,monitoring and post treatment survellience of cancer.
Clinico offers best-in-class PET-CT scan service at our newly inaugurated state-of-the-art Thane centre.
Schedule Your PET-CT Scan Today! Contact us 24×7 on 9504555555.
FAQ’s
Biehl, Kenneth J., et al. “”18F-FDG PET definition of gross tumor volume for radiotherapy of non–small cell lung cancer: is a single standardized uptake value threshold approach appropriate?.”” Journal of Nuclear Medicine 47.11 (2006): 1808-1812.
https://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/47/11/1808.short
