![]() ![]() The clinician usually orders this test as a 18F-FDG PET/CT scan. Until recently, that functional information that relates to the metabolic activities of cells could be obtained only by invasive means such as biopsies or open surgeries. Much of that is changing now, with the advent of so-called functional imaging studies that can tell an experienced expert a great deal about an unknown mass. In the right hands, such information can allow an expert to distinguish between a malignant cancer and a benign mass, scar tissue, or focus of infection. Positron Emission Tomography, or PET scanning, is rapidly emerging as one of the most useful forms of diagnostic imaging, especially with regard to diagnosing and managing cancer. 4-6 Like all imaging studies, however, PET scans are fraught with pitfalls for the uninitiated. As PET scanners appear in more and more hospitals, there’s a growing need for standardization of interpretation and reporting of results. Above all, there’s a need for experienced physicians to read the scans and provide useful information to the physicians who order them. Sadly, that level of rigor and expertise is lacking in many hospitals around the country, according to Dr. Richard Black, Director of Nuclear Medicine and PET Imaging for Radisphere National Radiology Group based in Cleveland, Ohio. Black recently to get a better understanding of PET scanning in general, and specifically to provide readers with a clear idea of the pitfalls, as well as the strengths, presented by this powerful new technology. Let’s start with a basic synopsis of what a PET scanner does, and how it obtains functional or metabolic information about a tumor or other suspicious mass. Black’s casebook on how PET scans are being used in caring for patients with malignancies. We’ll touch briefly on the practical limitations of PET scan technology. ![]() Black’s breakthrough efforts to change the way PET scans are interpreted and reported. ![]() Black is leading the field in developing standardized, reproducible reports on literally tens of thousands of patients for his customers that are situated throughout the United States and abroad and thus allowing oncologists and other clinicians to derive maximum benefit from these imaging studies. If a patient undergoing a PET/CT scan has a malignant tumor that is avidly taking up glucose, it will also take up 18F-FDG (fluorodeoxyglucose). The positrons emitted by the FDG will collide with electrons within the patient. This results in the emission of gamma rays (photons), a form of energy, which is picked up by the PET scanner-a gamma ray detector. When the scanner detects a matching pair of gamma rays, a software program determines their point of origin and creates a three-dimensional image-the PET scan. PET scanners produce functional information about a suspected tumor through the use of a technique that differs entirely from conventional radiology studies. ![]()
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