PET/CT scanner offers improved cancer diagnosis, treatment

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PET/CT scanner offers improved cancer diagnosis, treatment

Stanford Hospital & Clinics last month became the first health-care institution in Northern California to offer patients a powerful new diagnostic imaging system known as PET/CT. The hybrid technology combines the strengths of two well-established imaging modalities in one imaging session to more accurately diagnose and locate cancers while increasing patient comfort.

With PET/CT, Stanford physicians can make more accurate diagnoses, develop more targeted treatment plans, and do better, less-invasive treatment monitoring, which should result in improved patient outcomes, said Gary Glazer, professor and chair of the Department of Radiology. It is particularly useful in cancers of the head and neck, lung, colon, thyroid and breast, along with lymphoma and melanoma.

"PET/CT is an exciting innovation which has the power to save lives by enabling our physicians to make earlier and more accurate diagnosis," said Martha Marsh, president and CEO of Stanford Hospital & Clinics. "We are very pleased to offer this new technology."

PET/CT is covered by private insurance and Medicare. For additional information or to schedule a patient, call (650) 723-6884. PET, or positron emission tomography, monitors the biochemical functioning of cells by detecting how they process compounds such as glucose. By detecting increased glucose uptake with a high degree of sensitivity, PET identifies cancerous cells - even at an early stage when other modalities may miss them. However, PET cannot pinpoint the exact size and location of tumors to a precision necessary for optimal diagnosis and treatment planning, Glazer said.

CT, or computed tomography, yields a detailed picture of the body's anatomical structures by taking cross-sectional images or X-ray slices of the body. But a CT can miss small or early-stage tumors.

Currently, physicians can overlay the results of PET and CT scans performed separately to identify and locate tumors. However, because a patient may not be positioned identically for both scans, the two images can be difficult to line up exactly, degrading the accuracy of the diagnostic information.

The combined PET/CT scanner allows physicians to rapidly perform both scans in one session without moving the patient. This means physicians can precisely overlay the metabolic data of the PET scan and the detailed anatomic data of the CT scan to pinpoint the location and stage of tumors.

"The availability of PET/CT represents a vast improvement in the way we stage and treat cancer," said Ross McDougall, professor of radiology and acting chief of nuclear medicine. "This is very exciting technology that puts Stanford at the cutting edge of diagnostic imaging."

Clinical research has shown that compared with a PET scan alone, PET/CT technology provides new information that can alter a patient's treatment plan to better target the cancer in approximately one-third of the cases. In one example, the PET/CT scan of a lung cancer patient revealed not only the original tumor on the lung Ñ which a previous CT scan had found - but an additional tumor the CT missed: a small, early-stage lesion in the neck. Based on the CT alone, the physician would have recommended surgery, but the additional tumor found by PET/CT indicated that the cancer had spread and was inoperable. Based on this information, the physician proceeded with radiation therapy, giving the patient a better chance of survival.

"Physicians who have used this love it. They say it's revolutionized their practice," McDougall said. "Once they've seen what PET/CT can do, it changes their whole approach to treatment."

Stanford physicians will use the scanner not only to detect and stage cancers but also to monitor patients' response to treatment. PET/CT can significantly reduce the number of invasive biopsies normally done for this purpose.

While PET/CT is primarily used in cancer treatment, it also has applications in cardiology and brain imaging, and it will help physicians better understand the workings of heart disease and such neurological disorders as epilepsy and Parkinson's disease.

Stanford's multimillion-dollar PET/CT scanner was manufactured by GE Medical Systems.