PET (Positron Emission Tomography) and Nuclear Medicine

Monmouth Medical Center has introduced positron emission tomography (PET) whole-body imaging — new technology that produces powerful molecular images of the human body’s functions to search for cancer in a single exam. “PET reveals metastatic disease other imaging techniques simply can’t detect,” says radiologist Salman Rashid, M.D., chief of Nuclear Medicine at Monmouth Medical Center.“It helps to diagnose cancer and guides physicians to the most beneficial therapies.”

The outpatient service uses a mobile PET scanning system that is based at the Alexander Pavilion every Friday and every other Monday. This imaging provides the means to identify early disease, differentiate benign from malignant lesions, examine all organs for metastases and determine therapeutic effectiveness.

“The diagnostic accuracy of PET is 8 percent to 43 percent higher than conventional radiological procedures,” says Dr. Rashid, who completed his residency in nuclear medicine at Christ Hospital, Cincinnati, and is certified by the American Board of Nuclear Medicine.“This noninvasive nuclear medicine has been in existence for nearly 30 years but has been gaining acceptance in oncologic imaging during the past five years.” PET scanning involves the injection of a short-lived positron-emitting radiopharmaceutical agent with an approximate two-hour half-life. When this F-18 agent decays, it emits a positively charged electron, or positron, which travels a few millimeters in soft tissue before combining with an electron.

“The rationale for the use of this radiopharmaceutical is that most malignant lesions have accentuated glucose metabolism,which is mirrored by increased uptake of fluro- D-glucose (FDG),”Dr. Rashid says.“Since FDG cannot be metabolized within the cell like glucose, it is effectively trapped within cancer cells. Malignant lesions appear visually as areas of increased activity, or hot spots on a PET scan.” While other radiological studies provide detailed anatomic information about the size and location of masses, they do not provide the unique metabolic information available with PET, according to Dr. Rashid.

“This imaging modality offers many benefits, including staging, characterization and recurrence of disease,” he says. “It enables us to diagnose disease earlier, as well as monitor the therapeutic effectiveness of treatment, and replaces multiple tests and invasive procedures.”

Most PET scan exams last about one hour, although whole-body scans for melanoma last about 90 minutes.

For more information on PET scan services at Monmouth, including a list of oncology applications for PET, call the Department of Radiology at
732-923-6807.