WHAT IS PET AND PET/CT?

PET (Positron Emission Tomography) is an imaging modality that identifies the presence of a metabolically active tumor within the body after injecting a radioactive substance called FDG. This localizes within areas of metabolic activity around the body and emits radiation that allows us to image the distribution of metabolism, a so-called functional image. A CT (computed tomography) scan uses X-rays to provide an anatomical image of the patient. A PET/CT machine is a single device that combines both modalitiesss to produce an image that shows the metabolic functional information from the PET image and the anatomical information from the CT scan. The resultant data is displayed as a combined, or fused, PET/CT image.
PET/CT IN CLINICAL PRACTICE Top Tip
PET + CT = PET/CT
Metabolic function + Anatomy = Fused image