PET/CT: The test that accurately detects cancer
More than 20 years have passed since the first clinical applications of PET/CT in oncology and today this method is a basic diagnostic tool for the majority of cancer types.
PET/CT provides information on the metabolism, i.e. the activity of cancer cells and tissues and at the same time identifies the exact location of the damage in the organs, thus guiding towards a more correct biopsy.
This is an extremely sensitive method that highlights the cancer tissue early, even when its dimensions are still small. Small lymph nodes are highlighted as pathological with PET/CT, while they would be evaluated as normal with the criteria of CT. A typical example is the demonstration of pathological lymph nodes or small metastatic foci in the bones from prostate cancer with PSMA PET/CT that would be missed with a simple CT scan or bone scintigraphy.
PET/CT is a whole-body examination that in 10-20 minutes can image the body and highlight local foci and distant metastases simultaneously, achieving the most accurate staging of the disease and subsequently guiding the correct therapeutic choice.
But also after treatment, PET/CT shows the response of the disease with greater accuracy, that is, whether there is still active cancer tissue or not. It distinguishes residual disease or recurrence from scar tissue after surgery or radiotherapy. In specific cases, such as e.g. in Hodgkin lymphoma, it is used to monitor the response early after the start of chemotherapy, so that a decision can be made to continue it or change to another treatment regimen.
With newer radiopharmaceuticals that specifically target prostate cancer and neuroendocrine tumors, PET/CT is at the forefront in selecting patients who can undergo targeted radiopharmaceutical therapies.
Leading technology at the service of medicine and especially oncology that changes the diagnostic and subsequently the therapeutic tactics. At Athens Medical Group, we have many years of experience, being one of the first centers in Greece, public or private, to install a PET/CT machine, already in 2007, while the integration of new technologies is also continuous. The Athens Medical Group is once again a pioneer in this, investing in special image enhancement and artificial intelligence software to optimize diagnostic accuracy.
