jamie Posted May 13, 2004 Share Posted May 13, 2004 Not sure if I should post this here... Which is the most extensive test... PET scan or CT scan??? What is the difference besides the PET scan doing the whole body? Anyone know??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bean_si (Not Active) Posted May 13, 2004 Share Posted May 13, 2004 The PET scan measures glucose uptake in the body. Cancer relies on glucose for survival so any area that shows increased uptake may be cancer. Since the brain is in itself a glucose factory, the PET scan is not used to see if there is cancer in the brain. I also believe that it does not measure accurately in the kidneys BECAUSE the glucose IV solution ends up in the kidneys showing false positive. I think a CT scan measures 'soft tissue' such as the lung, liver, abdomen and can show anomalies. Well, that's what I think anyway. Cat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chloesmom Posted May 14, 2004 Share Posted May 14, 2004 PET scan detects and shows metabolic activity typical of infection, inflammation, or tumor. CT scan simply takes pictures of body parts in cross section slices, which makes things like worrisome areas easier to see and locate.... At least that's my simple mind's take on the difference between the two. PET scan takes a couple of hours (at least mine did)--CT takes about 20 seconds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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