What are the advantages of PET’s diagnostic capabilities?
PET can often diagnose disease before structural changes become detectable. Early detection of disease can potentially improve a patient’s prognosis. Once a diagnosis has been made, PET/CT helps your physician manage therapy by monitoring responses to a given regimen and by providing early feedback on its efficacy. In some cases, PET/CT can replace multiple diagnostic procedures with a single exam. In oncological situations, PET/CT can identify distant metastases that may affect the course of treatment and therefore change the way your physician manages your situation. PET/CT is also used to help predict the prognosis for surgical procedures to eliminate those that will not benefit the patient. All of the feedback provided by PET/CT can help reduce or avoid the cost of ineffective treatments or unnecessary hospitalization. Top of Page 6. PET/CT and Cancer PET is considered effective in: • The early detection of cancer. • Confirmation of distant metastasis • Staging the full extent of C
