A positron emission tomography (PET) scan is an imaging test that allows your doctor to check for diseases in your body. The scan uses a special dye that has radioactive tracers. These tracers are injected into a vein in your arm. Your organs and tissues then absorb the tracer.
An MRI (or magnetic resonance imaging) scan is a radiology technique that uses magnetism, radio waves, and a computer to produce images of body structures. TheMRI scanner is a tube surrounded by a giant circular magnet. The patient is placed on a moveable bed that is inserted into the magnet.
First, PET does not work for all cancers. In general, PET Scans are most useful for rapidly growing cancers such as Hodgkin’s disease, aggressive lymphomas and lung cancer. … However, when a PET Scan detects uptake of the FDG tracer, it means that it might be cancer, but is not definite.
One of the main differences between PET scans and imaging tests like a computed tomography (CT) scan or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is that thePET scan reveals metabolic changes in an organ or tissue earlier–at the cellular level.
During a PET scan, the patient is first injected with a glucose (sugar) solution that contains a very small amount of radioactive material. … A PET scan can be used todetect cancerous tissues and cells in the body that may not always be found through computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).