Whole body tumor imaging

Tumors are diseases that occur inside the human body and are difficult to detect with general instruments. Once it cannot be seen with the naked eye, it is difficult for doctors to determine the specific disease and they cannot prescribe the right medicine. With the development of medical technology, many medical instruments have emerged that can see the internal conditions of the body. Whole-body tomography is one of the instruments commonly used to examine tumors. It uses radionuclide labeling to create images. Specifically explain the whole body tumor tomography technology.

CT is an X-ray tomography technology that everyone is familiar with. The anatomical structure information of the lesion can be clearly obtained, but there are limitations to diagnosing the disease based solely on structural characteristics. The nature of some lesions, such as the benign or malignant nature of the tumor, and whether the tumor recurs after surgery, are difficult to accurately determine with CT. It cannot accurately reflect the physiological and metabolic state of the disease. PET-CT integrates PET and CT into one instrument to form a complete imaging system, which is called the integrated PET-CT system. During the examination, the patient undergoes a rapid whole-body scan and can simultaneously obtain CT anatomical images and PET functional metabolic images. The two images complement each other, allowing doctors to obtain precise anatomical positioning while understanding biological metabolic information, thereby making a comprehensive and accurate judgment on the disease.

PET uses radionuclides of positron emitters to label some physiologically necessary compounds or metabolic substrates such as glucose, fatty acids, amino acids, receptor ligands and water. After these are introduced into the body, a positron scanner is used to obtain in vivo chemical images. It is widely recognized in clinic for its ability to display the metabolic activity of organs or tissues and the function and distribution of receptors, and is also called "in vivo biochemical imaging."