PET Imaging

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scanning is an advanced imaging technique that can differentiate between malignant lesions and benign lesions in almost every process in cancer diagnosis, staging and treatment because PET is more sensitive than CT scanning or Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) techniques. The author explains that for PET scanning, the patient is injected with positron emitting radionuclides and placed in a tube and surrounded by a ring of detectors; when one of these high-energy photon rays is detected, the source location can be determined and mapped by a specialized software package. The paper relates that, after radiation and surgery there is considerable damage to surrounding tissue; therefore, it is often difficult to distinguish living cancer cells from morphological changes caused by surgery or tissue death caused by radiation; however, because dead tissue and cancer cells have different glucose metabolism rates, they are easy to distinguish by PET imaging.

Table of Contents
Improving Outcomes for Radiation Therapy
How PET Scanning Works
Radiation Therapy
Using PET to Analyze the Effectiveness of Radiation Treatments

From the Paper:

"Because PET scanning is based on glucose levels, it is important that these be controlled prior to the scan. Patients are usually told to fast for 4-6 hours prior to the test. However, they can drink water and take any medications that they are on. The goal is to get the base glucose level lower than 160 mg/dL before administering the FDG or other isotope. Patients with diabetes should continue their routine of eating small meals and taking their insulin. Then these small inconveniences, PET imaging is non-invasive and causes little discomfort to the patient."

More papers on PET Imaging:

• Essay # 52607 : "Positron Emission Tomography Imaging"
• Term Paper # 4637 : "Brain Imaging Studies and Understanding Memory"
• Research Paper # 97176 : "PET/CT Scanning System"

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