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Positron Emission Tomography - PET/CT Scan
If
your doctor has prescribed a PET/CT scan, you are in good hands. One
of the most advanced diagnostic tools available today is now available
at Sarasota Memorial. The region's only PET/ CT Scan offers imaging
that is safe, simple, accurate, thorough and fast. In less than an
hour the PET/CT can scan your entire body for conditions affecting
your heart, brain and other organs. Your doctor will be able to
pinpoint your problem faster, start treatment earlier and even avoid
some surgeries.
The PET/CT Scan
offers the electronic fusion of CT and PET images on the same scanner.
This technology allows for direct visual comparison of two different
data sets. In other words, it shows how the organs look and how they
are working. Traditional medical tests like CT scans show the physical
structure of your body in great detail. A PET scan examines your
body's chemistry, giving your physician valuable information about
how your body is functioning. The PET/CT Scan gives your doctor the
whole story.
How it works
Your cells and
body tissue contain glucose, a kind of sugar. The PET portion of the
technology uses this same kind of sugar, which has been chemically
attached to a tracer drug, to help isolate a disease. First a solution
is injected into your bloodstream. Since the tracer drug contains a
small, safe amount of a radiopharmaceutical (the radiation equivalent
of a couple of chest x-rays), it emits signals as it travels through
your body and collects in the organs that your physician wants to
study. A scanner then records these signals and turns them into
pictures. The fusion of the CT scan and the PET scan shows your
physician where any problems may lie.
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