PET Scans and Cancer

8.9 million living Americans have a history of cancer and 1.3 million new cancer cases will be diagnosed this year. Peer-reviewed literature supports and clinical data demonstrates that PET is effective in the diagnosing and staging of most cancers. The most dangerous aspect of cancer is how it spreads throughout the organ systems of the body. PET is able to inspect all organ systems of the body to search for cancer in a single examination. It can also be used after chemotherapy to prove that the cancer treatment has been effective.

Before PET, if a patient had some shadow on his or her lung x-ray, a physician would not be able to tell if it were a benign or malignant lesion. The patient would need to undergo a needle biopsy or perhaps even have a portion of the lung removed to help determine if the lesion was benign or malignant. A malignant lesion would then involve additional CT scans and possibly more surgery. Now, thanks to PET, doctors are able to tell if a growth is benign or malignant without further testing, as well as if malignancies have spread to other areas.