What is PET | How PET Works | Why PET Works
 What PET SeesStory of PET
Pet Scan Basics » How PET Works ?
When disease strikes, the biochemistry of your tissues and cells change. In cancer, for example, cells begin to grow at a much faster rate. A PET scan takes a digital picture of abnormal cellular structure.

The most common form of a PET scan begins with an injection of a glucose-based radiopharmaceutical (FDG), which travels through the body, eventually collecting in the organs and tissues targeted for examination. The patient lies flat on a bed/table that moves incrementally through the PET scanner. 

The scanner has cameras that detect the gamma rays emitted from the patient, and turns those into electrical signals, which are processed by a computer to generate the medical images. The bed/table moves a few inches again, and the process is repeated.

This produces the digital images, which are assembled by the computer into a 3-D image of the patient's body. If an area is cancerous, the signals will be stronger there than in surrounding tissue, since more of the radiopharmaceutical (FDG) will be absorbed in those areas. 
 

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