The Purpose and Application of PET Scans
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Images of a PET scan of the body
The purpose of PET scans is to see how a part of a body is functioning. It is a image technology that can be used to stop or prevent many types of conditions such as cancer. PET scans are usually used to investigate the following :
- Alzheimer disease- Helps doctors determine Alzheimer disease. PET scans improve the research accuracy of other health conditions that are often mistaken for Alzheimer
- Cancer- PET scans show if a person has cancer , shows what stage of cancer they are in, whether cancer has spread and helps doctors determine the best cancer treatment. Is used for monitoring and staging cancer patients. Help determine if tumor will spread or not.
- Epilepsy- PET scans can show which part of the brain is being effected by epilepsy. which helps doctors determine the best treatment for the patient such as MRI or CT. Can evaluate brain abnormalities such as tumors, seizures , memory disorder and other nervous system disorders.
- Heart disease- PET scans help detect which specif part of the heart is damaged or scarred. Determines blood flow of the heart. Identifies areas of the heart that would benefit from specific treatments .
- Medical research- Researcher can get great deal of data from PET scans especially if researching about the brain.