Who should have a PET scan?
Your primary care physician or specialist will determine if a PET scan is appropriate for you. PET scans have been particularly useful in diagnosing many types of cancer. Including lung cancer, breast cancer, colorectal cancer, ovarian cancer, esophageal cancer, head and neck cancer, lymphoma and melanoma. PET can detect an abnormality and determine if it is benign or malignant. It can also evaluate your response to chemotherapy or radiation therapy. PET is useful in diagnosing many types of neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease and epilepsy, and to identify certain types of heart disease. Pregnant or nursing women should not have a PET scan unless their doctor believes it is essential to their care. How does a PET scan work? A person having a PET scan is injected with a radioactive tracer, such as FDG, about an hour before the scan. The FDG, which is a form of radioactive glucose (sugar), is absorbed by the body’s tissue. The PET scanner produces a picture of this tissue
