12 hours before your appointment: You will be asked to eat a low carbohydrate diet. Foods that can be eaten include: meat, hard cheese, tofu, eggs, butter and vegetables with no starch. Some foods that are NOT allowed include: cereal, pasta, milk, breads and other sugars.
Day Prior to Your Appointment
Please avoid eating foods high in carbohydrates. These foods include potatoes, pasta, rice, breads, pretzels, cookies, candy, soda pop and alcoholic beverages. drink plenty of water the day before your appointment.
Preparation for the Procedure
You will be asked to follow the Limited Carbohydrate diet for the previous 24 hours before the date of your appointment. Do not eat or drink anything, except water, for 6 hours before the exam. You may drink water, as much water as you can would be helpful, until arrival.
The PET scan helps to detect the signs of high glucose consumption by cells. Therefore, having food before a PET scan is not recommended as it tends to throw your body's glucose levels out of balance and provide inaccurate results.
Food that should be avoided Before PET Scan :
Fruits and Vegetables- All fruits, potatoes, corn, carrots, legumes (other beans), tomatoes, peas, squash, veggie burgers.
12 hours before your appointment:
You will be asked to eat a low carbohydrate diet. Foods that can be eaten include: meat, hard cheese, tofu, eggs, butter and vegetables with no starch. Some foods that are NOT allowed include: cereal, pasta, milk, breads and other sugars.
Can I brush my teeth before a PET/CT scan? Normal brushing without swallowing mouthwash or toothpaste within the four hour preparation timeframe will have no effect on the outcome of your PET/CT scan.
Don't drink caffeine for 24 hours before a PET scan of your heart. Don't do any exercise or other strenuous activity for at least 48 hours before this test.
In most cases, you will need to rest before and after the injection of the radioactive material. For example, if you are having a brain PET scan, you will lie quietly in a darkened room before and after the injection to make sure your brain remains relaxed and is not stimulated by light, noise or reading.
It's important to relax, keep as still as possible, and avoid talking while you wait, as moving and speaking can affect where the radiotracer goes in your body. You can go to the toilet if you need to at any point.
Because PET scans read your sugar metabolism, eating sugar could affect the results of your scan. It's also important that you don't exercise for 24 hours before your PET scan. That's because exercise affects the radiotracer's reading and could cause the results to be inaccurate.
The radioactive tracer gives off very small levels of radiation that go away very quickly. As a precaution, you should avoid close contact with pregnant women, babies and young children for 6 hours after the scan. You need someone to take you home and stay overnight if you've had medicine to help you relax (sedative).
6 Hours Before Your Appointment
Do NOT eat anything; drink only water. Drinking water is encouraged to ensure hydration for best test results. Continue to take medications as prescribed.
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.
You will then be asked to rest quietly in a reclined position for 60 minutes before the scan. At the end of that time, you will be asked to urinate prior to imaging. PET and PET/CT scans last 45-90 minutes (depending on imaging needs).
Foods to avoid:
Carbohydrates: refined sugar, sweeteners, fruits, raisins, beets, carrots, corn, kidney beans, peas, yams, cereal, rice cakes, breads, muffins, tortillas, potatoes, pretzels, chips, rice, granola, oatmeal, pasta , sodas, fruit juices and flavored water.
The scan usually takes about 15 to 20 minutes but you can expect to be in the PET imaging department for between 2 and 3 hours. Before the scan, you should: ask about any food and drink restrictions before your scan.
Specific protocols may vary, but generally a PET scan follows this process: You will be asked to remove any clothing, jewelry, or other objects that may interfere with the scan. If you are asked to remove clothing, you will be given a gown to wear.
We prefer that you avoid anything with caffeine (coffee, tea, chocolate, or soda) within 24 hours of the test. Caffeine alters the distribution of the radiopharmaceutical throughout your body, specifically to your heart.
While there are numerous etiologic causes for infection, tuberculosis and the fungal infections (Cryptococcosis, Histoplasmosis, Coccidioidomycosis, Blastomycosis, and Aspergillosis) are most commonly described as source of false positive results with PET/CT examinations (Bunyaviroch and Coleman, 2005).
This type of scan help determine whether a smaller spot is cancerous or benign, as cancerous lesions are much more likely to light up on a PET scan than benign spots or scar tissue.