The last PET scan I had before treatment was undertaken at St Georges hospital, but as its now in excess of 3 month after I finished my Radiotherapy treatment at the Royal Marsden in Sutton, I'm back there this morning for my CT/PET Scan.
Position Emission Tomography (PET) is a non-invasive nuclear medicine technique that allows the evaluation of metabolic processes and the disturbance of these processes by disease.
It allows the identification of metabolically active cancer cells and provides excellent information on the staging of the disease and the impact of treatment. So fundamentally they will be able to see how effective my radiotherapy has or has not been.
The Royal Marsden has two state-of-the-art Siemens Biograph mCT PET/CT scanners on the Sutton site and one Siemens Biograph Horizon PET/CT in Chelsea. Access to a variety of PET tracers is available for both clinical and research studies. These tracers are produced in-house by their radiopharmacy, and also supplied by third party companies.
For FDG PET/CT scans one is not be able to eat anything six hours before your appointment. During this time you can drink as much still/tap water as you like - you do not need to have a full bladder for your scan.
The scan isn’t painful. However, you will have to lie still for up to one hour on a table which is quite hard. I let the radiographers/technologists about the pain and the discomfort that I had during my PET scan at St Georges as it could lead to difficulties with the scan, and they ensured they packed me and positioned and restrained my feet and arms such as to minimise stress and pain in my joints.
I had removed my chain and wedding rings before attending and had ensured that I was wearing clothes without any metal so that I didn't have to change into a hospital gown.
I was taken to a preparation room where a cannular was inserted into my arm, my blood sugars were taken and they gave me a small injection of radioactive tracer into a vein and ask me to remain lying down for about one hour. My mobility problems would not allow this so I was allowed to sit for the hour.
After an hour, I was asked to empty my bladder as its not as if you can jump off for a pee halfway through, and then we went into the scanning room. Because of my shoulder problems I was scanned with my arms by my sides. Sometimes they scan with your arms raised above your head.
During the scan, the radiographer/technologist is able to see you from the control room and you can talk to each other through an intercom. They keep you informed about what scans they are doing and how long each section is going to be.
My particular scans, whole body and head and neck were 25 minutes and 8 minutes respectively.
Although the radiographer/technologist can see parts of your body on the screen, the images must be carefully interpreted by a Radiologist/Nuclear Medicine physician who is an expert in this field.
The injected radioactive chemicals have a very short lifespan and are removed from the body fairly quickly. I was advised to avoid close contact with babies or pregnant women for eight hours after your scan. Kelly thought it would be fun to send my other daughter this image when she came home
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