Last Modified: April 18, 2002 This information was provided by
an unrestricted educational grant from Integral PET Associates,
LLC. Clinically, a PET Scan can locate metabolic defects in the
human body often before they have caused structural damage. It
can do this with high sensitivity and reliability. This is a
great advantage in deciding treatment courses and in diagnosing
various conditions. Since PET accurately and sensitively
measures function or physiology in the human body it can detect
problems before they cause irreversible damage to tissues. It
may also detect response to treatment earlier than many other
techniques, such as CT or MRI scans. The areas in which PET is
making critical contributions are cancer, heart disease, and
neurology. PET can detect active tumors in the body with very
high sensitivity. Active tumors have a high metabolism and
therefore high demand for glucose. In this way malignant tumors
may be distinguished from benign tumors and hidden tumors may be
found. Also the response o