All You Should Know About PET Diagnosis
May people today are suffering from different type of life threatening diseases. They need appropriate diagnosis programs and that will rightly meet the needs of the patients. PET diagnosis is one of them that offer quality result instantly and let you know whether you are suffering from any type of medial issues or not.
Pre-preparation of the PET scanPrior
to a PET scan, the patient receives an injection of a substance that contains a
type of sugar attached to a radioactive isotope. The cancer cells “take up” the
sugar and attached isotope, which emits positively charged, low energy
radiation (positrons). The positrons react with electrons in the cancer cells,
which create the production of gamma rays. The gamma rays are then detected by
the PET machine, which transforms the information into a picture. If no gamma
rays are detected in the scanned area, it is unlikely that the mass in question
contains living cancer cells.
How the PET scan performed?
Before
a PET scan the radioactive tracers are given through a vein in your arm,
through a solution you drink, or in a gas you inhale. Because your body needs
time to absorb the tracers, you’ll wait about an hour before the PET scan
begins.
The
actual scan can last anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes. This will involve lying on
a narrow table attached to a PET machine, which looks like a giant letter “O.”
The table slides slowly into the machine so that the scan can be conducted.
During
the scan you need to lie still. You may even be asked to hold your breath for several
seconds. You’ll hear buzzing and clicking noises during the test. When all the
necessary images have been recorded, the table will slide back out of the
machine and PET scan is complete.
PET
scans show metabolic changes occurring at the cellular level in an organ or
tissue. This is important because disease often begins at the cellular level.
PET scans can detect very early changes in your cells. CT scans and MRIs uses
special x-ray equipment or magnetic fields and radio frequency pulses to create
images of internal structures such as organs, soft tissues, and bone
respectively.
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