Question 1

do i need a pet scan after surviving breast cancer? i had breast cancer (stage 1) and treatment was successful.  i just had a mammogram and there was no cancer.  treatments were chemotherapy and radiation.

Accepted Answer

PET : Pet scans are not proven to be of use in stage i breast cancer.  There is a new type of breast-only pet canning called pem zthat is currently being tested, but right now there it also has no established role in monitoring you for recurrence or a new cancer.  Glad to hear the mammo was clear and wish you the best.  For now an annual mammo, possibly with an ultrasound, is the best testing after treatment for an early stage breast cancer.  There are some woman with a particularly higher risk of recurrence or of developing a second new tumor who will also benefit from regular MRI scans.  Ask your doctors if they think you need this too.

Question 2

what is a pet scan?

Accepted Answer

Sophisticated: Positron emission tomography----a pet scan is a very sophisticated scan of the body using injected radio-isotopic materials that are taken up by different body tissues and when scanned "light up" to help determine, usually, if there is cancer.  It has other purposes.

Question 3

what is a pet scan used for?

Accepted Answer

Cancer usually: The most common illnesses studied are various types of cancer. Frontal temporal lobe dementia can be differentiated from alzheimers disease from lewy body dementia also.

Question 4

how is a pet scan conducted?

Accepted Answer

Track a tracer: Pet scans make use of tracers,  radioactive compounds that bind to specific compounds of interest.  The tracer is injected and, after a few minutes, the pet scanner looks to see where the radioactivity has ended up, and is thereby able to see how much of the compound of interest is present, and where it is located.

Question 5

can you interpret my pet scan?

Accepted Answer

Wrong site: This is the HealthTap public site where volunteer docs answer questions about health conditions. It does not offer consults or direct care to anyone. If you sign up for a premium HealthTap service like their Prime of Concierge services some of these features are possible. You must go through the proper site help center to access those services.

Question 6

what chemical is in the injection for pet scans?

Accepted Answer

Radioactive glucose: Radioactive glucose, which sounds scary but is safe!

Question 7

what is suv on a pet scan?

Accepted Answer

A measure: Standardized uptake value. There are a normal range of suvs for various organs and too low of a range and too high of a range.

Question 8

are suv on pet scan gamma?

Accepted Answer

suv: Suv on a pet scan is the unit of measurement that allows one to evaluate how much metabolism is in a particular area of the body.

Question 9

what is the difference between mris & pet scans?

Accepted Answer

Structure v Function: A pet scan tells us which cells are taking up glucose which is a measure of functioning.  Cancer cells take up too much glucose and other illnesses like dementia have cells that do not take up enough glucose.  An MRI scan is a structural test and shows the outlines of cells and how big they are. Mri's are often most useful for looking at soft tissue.

Question 10

what isotope is used in the injection for a pet scan?

Accepted Answer

PET scan: It depends on the question being asked. Cardiac pet scans use several different types of isotopes including rubidium-82, n-13 ammonia, and fluorine-18 deoxyglucose. These can be used to measure myocardial metabolism (fluorine-18 deoxyglucose) or coronary blood flow (rubidium-82, n-13 ammonia).

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Doctor answers about:

Pet scan vs mammogram

A member asked:

Do i need a pet scan after surviving breast cancer? i had breast cancer (stage 1) and treatment was successful. i just had a mammogram and there was no cancer. treatments were chemotherapy and radiation.

A member asked:

What is a pet scan?

A member asked:

What is a pet scan used for?

A member asked:

How is a pet scan conducted?

A member asked:

Can you interpret my pet scan?

A member asked:

What chemical is in the injection for pet scans?

A member asked:

What is suv on a pet scan?

A member asked:

Are suv on pet scan gamma?

A member asked:

What is the difference between mris & pet scans?

A member asked:

What isotope is used in the injection for a pet scan?

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