What is the definition or description of: pet-ct lymphoma diagnosis?

An imaging modality: To assess both abnormal lymph nodes (ct) and metabolism in tissue (pet). "lumps" that utilize large amounts of sugar can be lymhoma, other cancer, or inflammatory/infectious.

A CT is an axial: Anatomic scan that slices you like a bologna, where a pet scan uses aradioactive sugar that is gobbled up by actively divding cells needing energy. They are used togetehr to correlate hypermetabolism with anatomic abnormality.

PET/CT staging: Lymphoma is diagnosed by the microscopic appearance of a tumor biopsy. It is further classified by studies of the expression of molecules on the surface of tumor cells (e.g. with antibody staining) and by tumor gene mutation studies. PET/CT on the other hand, is used to determine the "stage" of the disease, meaning its location and how widespread it is. Both are important for optimal treatment.