PET-CT Whole Body Scan

PET-CT - Whole Body Scan

The great promise of PET-CT is its potential as a single imaging modality for whole body staging providing both anatomical and biological information on the tumor as a whole. It allows a more precise estimation of the hypoxic tumor volume as well as comparisons on a voxel-by-voxel basis (parametric mapping). PET-CT offers improved localization of malignant lesions, including improved staging (especially for extranodal disease), better follow-up of sentinel lesions, improved targeting of biopsy and therapy, and greater confidence in interpretation.

PET-CT also improves the detection of non–FDG-avid tumors that would not be evident on a PET study alone. Finally, studies to date typically have shown a 4% to 15% improvement in overall accuracy of staging/restaging and a 30% to 50% improvement in the confidence of lesion localization. These numbers may improve further with wider use and further technique development.