PET Scans

PET scans, short for Positron Emission Tomography, are still in the experimental phase, and are one of the newest breast cancer diagnostic techniques around. As with sestamibi, if you get a PET scan, you'll be injected with a small amount of radioactive material. Active cells, which often indicate rapid cancer growth, take up the radioactive material. This helps radiologists identify areas where cells are suspiciously active, which can indicate cancer. Once doctors know where to look, further evaluation can be done with other techniques. One example is a combined PET and CAT Scan test, available in some centers.

Early results of PET scanning in women with breast cancer show important possibilities, including its ability to assess:

• whether a tumor still exists after radiation or chemotherapy
• whether a cancer has spread to the lymph nodes

But there are some drawbacks. PET scans have only a limited ability to detect small tumors. PET scans are available in only very few centers, and they are an expensive, sophisticated test that requires exceptional expertise.

PET (Positron Emission Tomography) scanning can be useful in defining the extent of disease in a woman with metastatic breast cancer. It can also be used to assess response to treatment. PET is particularly useful in evaluating lymph nodes. Compare these three PET scan images:

Normal PET scan

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PET scan showing abnormal lymph nodes

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PET in woman with breast cancer that has spread to

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Breastcancer.org would like to thank Dr. Amy Lansman at National Medical Imaging in Philadelphia for contributing these images.