Disclaimer

All the information contained within this blog is intended to be general in nature and should not be used as a substitute for a visit to the doctor. The views expressed in this blog are personal views of the author and are not related or directed towards anyone in particular. Although every effort is made to ensure that the content within this blog is accurate, but it is not official in anyway. Please consult a doctor or health care provider.

Monday 23 February 2015

Gallbladder Cancer- PET Scan

Positron Emission Tomography(or PET Scan) : Shows how the body tissues look like and how they are functioning. A PET scan or a combined CT-PET scan enables your oncologist to ascertain your condition in a more elaborate manner.

Purpose
  • Cancer detection
  • Determine the stage of cancer
  • Find out how far the cancer has spread
  • Diagnose the mass or lump is cancerous or not
  • Helps your oncologist to decide the best treatment for your cancer
  • Determine if the treatment is working
  • Diagnose cancer relapse
In cases, after an individual has received treatment for cancer. A CT scan is used to find out if there are still any signs of cancer. There may be tissues that had survived the treatment but may not be alive. A PET Scan confirms whether the tissues left are active(cancerous) or not.

A PET scan is a successful way to study the chemical activity in body parts or organs.

Useful 

PET scans must be done with utmost care especially, when certain types of cancer are not visible in PET scans. Sometimes non cancerous growth may appear cancerous. PET scans are mostly helpful in the following types of cancer
  • Pancreatic
  • Brain
  • Melanoma
  • Breast
  • Thyroid
  • Lymphoma
  • Prostate
  • Esophageal
  • Cervical
  • Lungs
  • Colorectal
How PET Scan works?

Cancer cells have higher metabolic rate then normal body cells. Therefore these( cancer cells) show up as bright spots in PET scan.

A PET scan uses a radioactive tracer (drug) to show the activity. A radioactive material is injected in the body depending upon the body part for which the PET scan is being conducted). The tracer collects in the areas where there is high chemical activity- which generally are the affected areas. These affected areas show up as bright spot in the PET scan. 

PET Scan is a expensive procedure. And may not available in all the hospitals. At times, you may have to go to some other hospital to get the scan done. 

I was fortunate, that the hospital my father was being treated was well equipped, Therefore I din't have to go anywhere for any of the tests, scans etc. Otherwise it would have been really difficult as papa's mobility had considerably reduced- owing to the spread of disease, weakness due to the treatment.

PET scans are not painful. PET scans take 15-45 minutes to complete.

Risk Involved

It is said to be  absolutely safe for the patient. The radiation( from radioactive injection) generally fades away in few hours from the patients body. But It is recommended that the patient drinks lots of liquid after the scan to flush the radioactive drugs out from the body.

Pregnant women should not take the test. She should not go near the patient(who just had PET scan) at least for next 6hrs.

In case of  feeding mothers - they can feed their babies after 6hrs. But is advisable if they can get someone else to feed the baby for the next 24hrs (though, the mother can express the milk after 6hrs, it is absolutely safe)

Results

After the scan the reports are send to the radiologist ( doctors specialized in reading such reports), who then sends his final finding to the doctor ( Oncologist)

I love you, Papa!

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