Nuclear Medicine, along with medicine in general, is always changing. The current revolution taking place in nuclear medicine is among the most exciting. The development of whole-body Positron Emission Tomography (PET), together with the imaging agent F18 FDG (flurodeoxyglucose) enables the accurate non-invasive detection and staging of cancer. PET was developed in the late 1960’s, but recent developments have resulted in its recognition as an invaluable clinical test for tumor imaging. PET and nuclear medicine are unique and different than other imaging modalities because they do not have the unique ability to image functional processes, such as tumor metabolic activity, in vivo.
The basic principles of PET are based on the detection of photons
Just like every other diagnostic procedure, PET is not accurate 100% of the time. It is very important for the PET scanning staff and the interpreting physician to have a detailed patient history prior to reading the PET scan. A physician trained in reading PET scans with a thorough knowledge of patient history can minimize the number of false positive and false negative readings. The following are just some of a list of potential medical causes of false positive readings: recent radiotherapy, inflammatory process, repair process, recent surgery, muscle effects including stress, injection site and lymph nodes proximal to injection, cecum, bowel and stomach uptake, tonsillar and thymic uptake in children and adolescents and granulomatous disease.
Example Essays Home
