Positron Emission Tomography (PET)

Your physician has referred you to the Diagnostic Services Department at United Hospital Center for a Positron Emission Tomography (PET) procedure. Positron Emission Tomography is a nuclear medicine procedure that produces pictures of the body's biological functions. PET is capable of detecting certain diseases before other imaging modalities such as Computed Tomography (CT) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) because PET is able to capture chemical and physiological changes related to metabolism, as opposed to gross anatomy and structure, which is obtained by CT and MRI. This is important since functional changes are often present before structural changes in tissues. PET images may therefore demonstrate pathological changes long before they would be evident in CT or MRI.

Why should you have a PET examination:

• It's painless and safe.
• Replaces multiple testing procedures.
• Differentiates between malignant and non-malignant tumors.
• Provides earlier detection of recurrent cancer.
• Reduces or eliminates ineffective unnecessary treatment.
• Monitors the efficiency of patient care and management.
• Accurately assesses the location and the stage of the malignant disease.

How you should prepare for the PET examination:

• Wear comfortable clothes.
• DO NOT eat or drink anything 4 hours prior to exam.
• Take all medications EXCEPT fluid pills 24 hours prior to exam.
• Stop all physical exercise 48 hours prior to exam.
• Bring all medications with you.
• Bring previous films and reports from other facilities.
• Bring any biopsy or CEA reports where applicable.
• DO NOT bring children or pregnant women with you to appointment.
• If you are diabetic, you must take your insulin or pills prior to appointment.
• You CANNOT have sugar or natural sugar, such as found in fruit and fruit drinks the day of the appointment.

Before the scan, you will be injected with a radioactive tracer. You should feel no side effects resulting from the injected tracer. You will be asked to rest for approximately thirty to forty-five minutes while the radioactive compound distributes throughout your body, and is processed by the organs being evaluated. The radiation exposure associated with PET is safe and much lower that that associated with conventional CT scanning.

You will be asked to lie on the scanner table, which will slowly pass through the scanner. The PET scanner detects and records the signals the tracers emit. The signals are then reassembled into actual images through a computer. The interpreting physician reads the images and sends a report to your physician. Your physician will discuss your test results with you.

LENGTH: Approximately 2-3 Hours

If you are nursing or pregnant (or think you might be), tell your physician and the technologist BEFORE your scan.