Are there any risks of having a PET scan? PET scans are very safe. There are no side effects associated with the radioactive tracers, which only remain in your body for a short time. In addition, the dose of radiation is very small — similar to several years' worth of natural radiation from the environment.
Why do I need a PET scan? You may need a PET scan to find out if you have cancer. If you've already been diagnosed with cancer, you may need this test to see if your cancer treatment is working. A PET scan also helps diagnose and monitor heart and brain diseases.
A PET scan can help to: show up a cancer. find out how big it is and whether it has spread (stage a cancer) show whether a lump is cancer or not.
The diagnostic accuracy of PET-CT was 93.5%, and the false positive rate was 6.50%.
Your healthcare provider may order a PET scan to check for signs of: Cancer, including breast cancer, lung cancer and thyroid cancer. Coronary artery disease, heart attack or other heart problems. Brain disorders, such as brain tumors, epilepsy, dementia and Alzheimer's disease.
Positron emission tomography (PET) is a medical imaging procedure that provides unique information about how an organ or system in the body is working. PET scans are mainly used to assess cancers, neurological (brain) diseases and cardiovascular (heart-related) disease.
PET scans can show solid tumors in the brain, prostate, thyroid, lungs, and cervix. The scans can also evaluate the occurrence of colorectal, lymphoma, melanoma, and pancreatic tumors. They are also used to assess if treatment is being effective in eliminating cancer.
After a Diagnosis
PET scans can be used to determine how much cancer is in a person's body and how far the cancer has spread, which is called staging. Since PET scans can detect more cancerous sites than CT scans alone, they are often used in the initial staging and follow-up testing.
PET scans do not diagnose cancer; they only show areas of abnormal uptake of the tracer material. Other diseases can produce "hot spots," such as infection.
Not all that lights up on a PET scan can or should be considered malignancy, and clinical context can become even more pertinent. Inflammatory cells, sarcoidosis, and other thoracic etiologies such as silicone-induced granuloma, can cause PET scans to light up, giving false positives [3,4,5].
18F-Fluorodeoxy glucose positron emission tomography‒computed tomography (18F-FDG-PET) can detect malignant lymph nodes of even normal size, thus overcoming one of the major limitations of CT.
PET imaging can be useful to determine whether a tumor is malignant (cancerous) or benign (not cancerous). Unlike other imaging tests like CT or MRI that show anatomy, the PET scan looks at the physiological changes and cellular activity, so cancer may be diagnosed much earlier.
PET scanning can give false results if chemical balances within the body are not normal. Specifically, test results of diabetic patients or patients who have eaten within a few hours prior to the examination can be adversely affected because of altered blood sugar or blood insulin levels.
Not all cancers show up on a PET scan. PET scan results are often used with other imaging and lab test results. Other tests are often needed to find out whether an area that collected a lot of radioactive material is non-cancerous (benign) or cancerous (malignant).
If a lesion is identified by a PET scan, it may need to undergo a biopsy to determine benign nature versus malignancy. The reported sensitivity and specificity varies greatly among studies, and, in many instances, there is a lack of histologic confirmation.
Your PET/CT technologist will prepare your images for the radiologist, who will then forward the results to your physician within 24-48 hours after the procedure. Your doctor will then meet with you to discuss the results and answer any questions you may have.
In general, PET scans may be used to evaluate organs and/or tissues for the presence of disease or other conditions. PET may also be used to evaluate the function of organs, such as the heart or brain. The most common use of PET is in the detection of cancer and the evaluation of cancer treatment.
When the scan lights up brightly, it means there is metabolic activity. Most aggressive cancers light up brightly, but the caveat is inflammation in the body also lights up because inflammatory cells are also metabolically active. That's why we need to verify the scan results with a needle biopsy.
Do I have to pay for a PET scan? There is no cost for most PET scans if you are a citizen or permanent resident of Australia and covered by Medicare. For a limited number of indications that are not approved by Medicare, there can be a charge to the patient.
Tissue that has a high rate of metabolism and a high consumption of sugar appears as especially dark spots on black-and-white PET images, and on color images as especially bright spots.
CT scans are more accurate than PET scans, but PET scans can be used to diagnose cancer at an early stage. Both scans are painless and take about 30 minutes to complete. If you're unsure which scan is right for you, be sure to talk to your doctor about PET and CT protocols.
If undergoing a combination PET-CT scan, the iodine-based contrast dye used for the CT component can cause side effects, including nausea, vomiting, headache, itching, flushing, and mild rash. In rare cases, a serious, all-body allergic reaction known as anaphylaxis may occur.
With a PET or a PET/CT scan, you will give off very low levels of radiation for around 6 hours afterwards. As a precaution, you should avoid being close to women who are pregnant during this time. It should also be safe to be around adult pets, as long as they are not pregnant.
The main difference in a PET scan vs. MRI or CT scan is that it can show cellular-level changes and issues with oxygen use, glucose metabolism and blood flow that reveal medical problems at a very early stage.