PET is a new generation of medical imaging for examining the
biology of disease that has been shown to dramatically improve
the detection of cancer, stage the extent of cancer throughout
the body, detect recurrence of cancer and to help select the
right therapy for individual patients. In Alzheimer's disease,
PET has been shown to have a 93% accuracy in detecting
Alzheimer's about three years before the conventional diagnosis
of "Probable Alzheimer's", when integrated into the clinical
workup of patients. In addition, PET has been shown to detect
Alzheimer's and other neurological disease years before even
symptoms are expressed. PET is also employed to determine which
patients with cardiovascular disease will benefit from bypass
surgery and angioplasty. These and other clinical uses of PET
employ a labeled version of the sugar glucose, called
Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG). Glucose is a critical fuel for cells
throughout the body to perform their normal functions. For
example, 95% of the energy for the brain to fu