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Positron Emission Tomography
Positron Emission Tomography, or PET, is an advanced diagnostic imaging technology designed to deliver early disease detection and precise disease management.A nuclear medicine procedure that creates detailed images of the body's biological functions, PET is able to diagnose disease before structural changes become detectable.
Developed in the early 1970s, PET has emerged from the halls of research into everyday clinical practice. PET can save time and cost in the diagnosis and treatment of oncologic, cardiac and neurologic conditions by helping physicians select more effective therapies.
At South Texas Institute of Cancer, we believe in the value of carefully applied technology. We utilize PET scanning everyday to provide our patients with the most accurqte diagnosis possible as well as effective regimens of treatment |
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| BENEFITS OF PET EXAMS |
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Monitors therapeutic efficiency |
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PET manages patient therapy by monitoring response to a given regimen and providing early feedback on its efficacy. This can help avoid ineffective treatments or unnecessary hospitalization. |
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Identifies distant metastases |
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Through showing all the organs of the body with one image, PET can identify distant, occult metastases that may affect the course of treatment and therefore change patient management. |
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Eliminates invasive procedures |
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PET helps avoid the expense and pain of removing benign nodules, as well as invasive biopsy procedures to determine malignancy. |
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Pre-surgical assessment |
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PET allows for more accurate staging of patients for surgery. Thus eliminating those procedures that will not benefit the patient and ultimately avoiding useless surgical resections. |
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Earlier diagnosis |
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PET is able to diagnose disease before structural changes become detectable with anatomical imaging techniques, potentially improving the prognosis. |
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