TYPE-combined nuclear medicine and CT (PET/CT scan)

TERMINOLOGY-abnormal UPTAKE in mediastinum

TECHNICAL-nuclear medicine scans can show normal physiological processes (like the renal scan) or abnormal activity (like PET scans for tumors). On PET scans, it is important to know what body tissues normally take up the tracer, such as the yocardium and the brain, and that the tracer is eliminated in the urine, so uptake in the bladder and kidneys is also normal. As previously noted, there is no additional radiation to the patient to obtain another image in nuclear medicine, as the tracer is already in the patient's body and we are just bringing a detector into a different position to generate an image from the emitted radiation.

70 year old male with lymphoma.