Positron Emission Tomography
New device will add to imaging capabilities

(PET) Positron Emission Tomography

A new diagnostic imaging technology will soon be at Children's Hospital Boston. In January 2004, the Division of Nuclear Medicine will begin imaging patients in its new Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scanner. It will be one of the few such machines in the country used exclusively for pediatrics.

"This will be a tremendous benefit to our patients, because PET allows us to see functional distribution and changes in the body," says S. Ted Treves, MD, chief of the Division of Nuclear Medicine. A three-dimensional imaging technique that depicts the distribution of radiopharmaceuticals within the body, PET can help diagnose disease very early. "This will complement our existing diagnostic imaging instruments, such as SPECT [Single Photon Emission Tomography], MRI and CT. The addition of PET enhances our team's ability to obtain the highest quality studies in the safest possible way," says Dr. Treves.

"PET is an exciting technology because it provides exquisite details of regional function in the human body," says Dr. Treves. Because PET allows the assessment of chemical and physiological changes related to function and metabolism, and these alterations often take place well before physical or anatomical changes occur, PET can be a key tool for very early diagnosis of disease.

PET has already proven extremely useful to Children's Oncology, Neurology and Cardiology units. With respect to cancer, the technology can help determine whether certain tumors are active or inactive and if they have spread locally, or to distant locations from the primary tumor. In addition, images obtained with PET are often used in conjunction with other imaging modalities such as CT and MRI to help localize changes within the body. Combining a three-dimensional PET, an MRI and a CT can help determine the precise anatomic location of active lesions and help optimize radiation oncology or surgical planning. Another important property of PET is that it allows physicians to assess the success of therapeutic interventions early, by means of serial scans.

Brain disorders such epilepsy and brain tumors can also be evaluated using PET. Other conditions such as behavioral, learning, metabolic and cerebrovascular disorders also benefit from PET assessment. Utilizing standard diagnostic imaging procedure called SPECT along with PET, neurologists and neurosurgeons can more accurately target the origin of epileptic seizures prior to surgery.

The use of PET scans in pediatric cardiology is relatively new. PET can be used to detect whether heart muscle has been damaged in a variety of disorders.