PET scan & Chemo Class

I got up super early today to go to my 6:45am PET scan appointment. Of course, I have to wait until tomorrow for the results.... Later, Doug and I went to chemo class. The nurse gave us some basic information and we toured the chemo room. I can't believe this is all about to begin.

If you are interested, here's some info on PET scans....

Positron Emission Tomography (PET)
A PET scan allows physicians to measure the body's abnormal molecular cell activity to detect cancer.

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.

PET shows the extent of disease - called staging - of lung cancer, colorectal cancer, melanoma, head and neck cancer, breast cancer, lymphoma and many other cancers. For patients whose cancer is newly diagnosed, it is important to determine if the cancer has spread to other parts of the body so that appropriate treatment can be started. PET can search the entire body for cancer in a single examination with a "whole body scan," revealing the primary site (s) as well as any metastases.

Your PET scan will produce a "picture" of how your body's cells are functioning, whereas an x-ray, CT scan, or MRI produce a picture of bones, organs and tissues.