PET (Positron Emission Tomography)
Positron Emission
Tomography (PET) is a imaging technique of nuclear medicine that is used to
observe metabolic processes in the body. The PET is based on the detection of
small amounts of positron emitter labelled biologic molecules.
The beginning and recent trends of PET Examination
The first PET center in
Korea was opened with a dedicated PET scanner at Seoul National University
Hospital on 5 June, 1994.
In 1995, medical
cyclotron was started to produce FDG for oncology imaging.
A PET scan can be used
to detect cancers, especially lymphoma or cancers of head and neck, brain,
lung, colon, or prostate.
We have performed
various exam and research using 18F, 11C, 13N,
15O for brain and heart imaging.
The PET images have
been used to diagnose various brain disease such as epilepsy, cerebrovascular
disease, dementia and helped to evaluate cardiovascular diseases.
We introduced a PET/CT
scanner which combines a PET scanner and an x-ray computed tomography (CT)
scanner in 2003.
PET/CT images provide
that the spatial distribution of metabolic or biochemical activity in the body
can be more precisely aligned or correlated with anatomic imaging obtained by
CT scanning.
A PET/MRI was
introduced in the Cancer Imaging Center of Seoul National University Cancer
Hospital on March 2011.
The Cancer Imaging Center is combined the Department of Nuclear Medicine
with the Department of Radiology, provides tumor imaging and contributes to the
field of molecular imaging.