PET/CT Exam

A positron emission tomography (PET) scan is an imaging test that helps reveal how your tissues and organs are functioning. A PET scan uses a radioactive drug (tracer) to show this activity. This scan can sometimes detect disease before it shows up on other imaging tests by detecting changes in cellular function, specifically, how your cells are utilizing nutrients like sugar and oxygen. Since these functional changes take place before physical changes occur, PET can provide information that enables your physician to make an early diagnosis. A PET scan is an effective way to examine the chemical activity in parts of your body. It may help identify a variety of conditions, including many cancers, heart disease, and brain disorders. The pictures from a PET scan provide information different from that uncovered by other types of scans, such as computerized tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). A PET scan or a combined CT-PET scan enables your doctor to better diagnose illness and assess your condition. Often, PET images are combined with CT or MRI scans to create special views. The advantage of CT is its ability to take cross-sectional images of your body. These are combined with the information from the PET scan to provide more anatomic details of the metabolic changes in your body. The PET exam pinpoints metabolic activity in cells and the CT exam provides an anatomical reference. When these two scans are fused together, your physician can view metabolic changes in the proper anatomical context of your body.

PET/CT Patient Brochure        PET/CT Patient Diet Instructions        PET/CT Referring Provider Brochure        PET/CT Referral Form