Intro to PET

PET is a medical diagnostic, imaging procedure that provides physicians with information about the body's chemistry, cell function, and location of disease - information not seen through CT, MRI, X-ray, blood test, or physical examination. Unlike CT or MRI, which look at anatomy or body structure, PET studies body function that is the biology of diseases.

What PET is Used For

PET scans are used by physicians in the fields of oncology, cardiology, and neurology to show various disease states. PET can help your oncologist tell if a tumor is cancerous. PET enables the cardiologist to screen for heart disease and evaluate damage from heart attacks. PET images can also be used to detect the early signs of neurological diseases.

Technology of PET

As a nuclear medicine technique, PET involves a combination of biochemistry and technology. Cells in the body rely on glucose as an energy source, and typically, cells of the body that require more fuel (such as actively growing cancer) will metabolize glucose at a faster rate than other cells. A radioactive form of glucose called fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) is injected into, and distributed throughout, the patient's body. The PET scanner then tracks and records the signals the FDG emits. A computer then reconstructs the signals into whole-body images that show areas throughout the body where diseases are present. Areas that are metabolizing more FDG than others will show up on the resulting images.

Origin of PET

PET technology as we know it today was developed in 1973 at Washington University in St. Louis. Dr. Michael Phelps, with the University of California at Los Angeles, headed a team that built the first PET scanner. In 1983, Ron Nutt, Ph.D. and Terry Douglass, Ph.D., joined Michael Phelps to create CTI, Inc. This Knoxville, Tenn.-based company was established to place PET technology into the mainstream of medical imaging. Most developments in PET have originated with CTI, whose founders are generally considered to be the inventors and developers of clinical PET.

The accuracy of PET scanning eliminates inappropriate treatments as well as the need for unnecessary surgeries and biopsies and, thus potentially saving countless lives and billions of dollars every year. Dr. R. Edward Coleman, M.D. of Duke University Medical Center states, "PET makes a major impact on the clinical evaluation of cancer patients at Duke University Medical Center. The accuracy of PET scans in the diagnosis and staging of lung cancer has resulted in the routine use of PET scans for these indications. PET has resulted in more cost-effective management of patients by avoiding unnecessary biopsies and surgeries."

It is estimated there are 300,000 PET scans performed annually for all diseases and approximately over 450 PET scanners are in service throughout the world. To receive a PET scan a patient should ask any physician charged with the patient care to order a PET scan.

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