Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography (PET/CT)

PET/CT is a relatively new imaging tool that combines two diagnostic imaging scan techniques into one - a PET scan and a CT scan. The combined PET and CT images enhance the physician's ability to diagnose cancer at earlier stages (including recurrent cancers) and provide a clearer assessment of response to treatments such as radiation therapy. Together the two procedures provide information about the location, nature of and the extent of a tumor. PET/CT helps determine where the tumor is, how big it is, if it's malignant, benign or due to inflammatory change, and, if it has spread.

PET/ CT makes it possible to customize patient treatment positions and reconstruct individual "slices" into a 3D image of the entire area scanned, providing the most detailed high-resolution image available. Because of its lightning-fast speed, PET/CT images allow for immediate treatment planning, letting physicians evaluate tumors and surrounding structures in minute detail. When PET is used to image cancer, a radiopharmaceutical agent with sugar is injected into a patient. Since cancer cells metabolize sugar at higher rates than normal cells the radiopharmaceutical is drawn in higher concentrations to cancerous areas. The highly sensitive PET scan picks up the metabolic signal of actively growing cancer cells. The CT scan generates a detailed picture of internal anatomy, locating and revealing the size and shape of abnormal cancer growths. When these two results are fused together it provides a single detailed and informative image. PET/CT offers a tremendous advantage over other currently available diagnostic tools.