Brain PET scans
Brain PET scans are imaging tests used to evaluate injury and disease in the brain pet scans are better than other imaging tests like magnetic imaging resonance and CT scans because they reveal the functioning of tissues of the brain. PET scans use radioactive materials called tracers. The tracer is injected through a vein in the elbow or may be inhaled as a gas. The tracer then circulates throughout the body and the patient has to wait for one hour for the tracer to be well circulated in the body. The person then lays onto a narrow table that then slides into a big tunnel shaped PET scanner (David, 2013).
The positron emission scanner detects all the signals from the tracer in the body. The PET scanner transmits the data into a computer that transmits all the data into three-dimensional pictures. These images are displayed on a screen. The person must lie still for the PET scanner to produce clear scanned images of the brain. The PET scan ossuary takes thirty minutes to one hour (John Hopkins University, 2013).
PET scans are used in diagnosing cancer, preparation of epilepsy surgery and the diagnosis of dementia and also differentiate between Parkinson’s disease and other neurological disorders. PET scans are also carried out to determine how a person responds to treatment for brain disorders like cancer. PET scans are usually used when other imaging techniques like MRI AND CT scans cannot provide enough information for diagnosis (John Hopkins University, 2013).
The normal results for PET scans detect no problems in the function, the size or the shape of the brain. Abnormal results of PET scans may indicate the presence of brain disorders like brain tumors and cancer, epilepsy dementia and Alzheimer’s disease (David, 2013).
References
David, D., (2013). Brain PET scans. Retrieved from
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/007341.htm
John Hopkins University (2013) Positron emission tomography (PET scan). Retrieved from
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/healthlibrary/test_procedures/neurological/positron_emission_tomography_pet_scan_92,P07654/.
