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POSITR

EMISSION
ON
TOMOGRA
PHY

Prepared by: Leanne Ruth B. Amarillo

What is Positron Emission


Tomography (PET)?
a non-invasive diagnostic technology
that produces physiologic images
based on radiation emissions from the
body. These emissions are generated
by radioactive chemical elements
taken by the patient and are designed
to target specific organs or tissues

A PET scan is very different from an


ultrasound, X-ray, MRI, or CT scan.
A PET scan allows the physician to distinguish
between living and dead tissue or between
benign and malignant disorders.
Since a PET scan images the biology of
disorders at the molecular level, it can help
the physician detect abnormalities in cellular
activity at a very early stage, generally before
anatomic changes are visible

History and Development of PET Scanners


1930s Georg von Hevesy pioneered radioactive
tracers
1950 to 1960s Research teams began to scan
radioactive substances
1973 The first PET camera was built for human
studies by Edward Hoffman, Michael M. TerPogossian, and Michael E. Phelps in Washington
University.
1976 Louis Sokoloff along with Dr. Alfred Wolf and
Joanna Fowler synthesized 2-fluoro-2-deoxy-Dglucose (FDG), which is radiolabelled with18F and is
one of the mostly widely used radiotracers today

How does a PET scan works?


Radiotracer
Before carrying out a PET scan, a radioactive
medicine is produced in a cyclotron.
cyclotron a particle accelerator that
produces a large quantity ofprotonsand get
them moving at an accelerated rate along a
circular orbit, inside a chamber controlled by
powerful alternating electromagnetic fields

medical cyclotron, biosynthesizer and computer


terminal used in preparing radiotracers

There are many radioactive isotopes that can be


produced in the cyclotron. In order to use them in a
PET apparatus for imaging the body, they must:
be capable of emittingpositronswhen they decay
radioactively
Positrons the anti-particle of an electron

have a short period of unstability


be readily incorporated into an useful
radiopharmaceutical, by chemical synthesis

The radioactive medicine is then tagged to a


natural chemical. This natural chemical could be
glucose, water, or ammonia. The tagged natural
chemical is known as a radiotracer. The
radiotracer is then inserted into the human
body.
When it is inside, the radiotracer will go to areas
inside the body that use the natural chemical.

How does a PET scan works?


Detecting positrons
As the radiotracers
are injected into the
blood-stream and are
taken up in greater
concentrations by
areas of tissue that
are more
metabolically active.
In the tissue, the
substancesemit
positrons, which, in
turn, release gamma
rays.

The PET detector is comprised of an array of


thousands of scintillation crystals and hundreds
of photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) arranged in a
circular pattern around the patient. The
scintillation crystals convert the gamma
radiation into light which is detected and
amplified by the PMTs. This energy appears as
a 3-dimensional image on a computer monitor.

Block diagram of a PET System

How does a PET scan works?


Generating an Image
The photon pair defines a line on which the
collision took place (line of response or LOR).
By analyzing tens of thousands of LORs, the
backend image signal processor can display the
collision activity as a 3-D image.
In some PET systems, the timestamp of two
photon-strike events is used solely to determine
if two strikes were close enough in time to be
counted by the system as a valid signal. Verifying
this LOR is challenging and requires a timing
accuracy of a few nano-seconds.

Strengths
Unlike CT or MRI scans, PET scans can
measure cellular- level metabolic changes
occurring in an organ or tissue (early stage
detection)
CTs and MRIs cannot detect changes until the
disease has already began to cause changes
or damage in the structure of organs or
tissues.

Limitations
Time-consuming
Not as precise as fMRI scan
PET scan might be dangerous depending on each
individuals heart conditions
PET scan can sometimes show up areas of high
activity which may be mistaken for cancers
The radioactive substance has a very short decay
and therefore appointments must run on schedule
PET scans are a very expensive form of imaging,
and are not readily available all the time.

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