(1) Siemens Mobile PET (Positron Emission Tomography) Scanner

Prep

• Patients need to be on a low-carbohydrate diet with minimal exercise the day prior to exam.
• Do not eat for six hours before the exam.
• Drink plenty of water prior to appointment. Patients are asked to drink three to four 8-ounce glasses of water prior to the exam; there is no need to hold your bladder.
• Wear comfortable, warm clothing.

Safety

Please inform the staff:

• If you are, or might be pregnant.
• If you are breast feeding.

Diabetics will be contacted on the day prior to exam.

There will be a comfortable recliner for you to relax in once you have arrived at the PET clinic.  A technologist trained in Nuclear Medicine and PET will conduct a brief patient interview and provide you with an explanation of the PET study, as well as answer your questions about this test. Once you are comfortable, the technologist will start an IV. Once the IV has been started. A radiotracer is injected. (A radiotracer is a safe, radioactive form of sugar also known as FDG or 18F-Flourodeoxyglose.) Afterward, the IV port is flushed with saline, then removed.  After the injection, you will be asked sit in a comfortable, relaxing environment for 45-60 minutes; this is called the uptake period.  After the uptake period is complete, you will be asked to empty your bladder and start the scan. The scan may last from 45 minutes up to two hours, but usually can be completed in about an hour.  The PET scanner has a round gantry similar to a CT scanner, which many patients describe as a big doughnut. You will lie on a bed that will automatically move you through the scanner's gantry (doughnut hole).

• A radiologist specially trained in interpreting PET scans will read the study.
• A diagnostic report will be sent to your physician(s).
• Because of the short half-life of the radiotracer, no particular limitations are required after the study, except that patients should drink plenty of fluids to flush the tracer from their system.

PET studies are used to help determine the size and shape of a tumor and diagnose neurological disease, such Parkinson's.

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