PET CT

PET and CT are performed immediately one after the other in the same device. The pure examination time in the device is 15-20 minutes. The total time required, including preparation time, is 1.5-2 hours, as the radioactively labelled sugar takes about an hour to accumulate throughout the body. You must be able to lie still and relaxed for the duration of the examination, as this is the only way to obtain images of good informative value. During the examination, you will lie on a couch that moves into the opening of the PET/CT device. The opening is relatively wide and the tube relatively short so that you do not have to feel cramped and can maintain constant contact with the medical staff looking after you. Meanwhile, you can breathe normally; if necessary, you will be given a short breathing command to hold your breath for about 20 seconds. In the picture on the left you can see the PET/CT camera in the examination room.

The labelled (grape) sugar (abbreviated to FDG) used in your case has a half-life of 110 minutes, which means that only half of the originally injected radioactivity is still present in the body after just 2 hours. The radiation exposure is therefore low. It corresponds approximately to the value of the natural, annual radiation exposure. The radioactive sugar itself has no side effects on your organism - sugar in this form is already present in your body in much larger quantities than the dosage used for the PET. As sugar is also absorbed with food or produced in the body from food components, it is particularly important that your last meal or intake of food containing sugar/carbohydrates was at least 6 hours before the examination. The additional sugar ingested / produced in the body would interfere with the examination to such an extent that we would not be able to carry it out.

The sugar you use is produced especially for you. As the manufacturing process is quite delicate, production stoppages can occur, albeit very rarely. It is only shortly before the start of the test that the manufacturer is able to inform us whether or not we will be able to keep the appointment. If an appointment is cancelled, we will try to contact you immediately by telephone at home to save you the trip to us and to arrange an alternative appointment with you. Conversely, we ask you to inform us at the latest on the morning before the day of the examination if you are unable to keep an appointment, as otherwise we will have to charge you for the medication.

Prior to your examination, the attending physician will have decided whether an X-ray contrast medium is necessary for the examination in addition to the radioactive sugar. If this is the case, you will be given a short questionnaire to fill out in order to determine the possibility of an intolerance to X-ray contrast media in your particular case. Then, if the gastrointestinal tract is to be assessed, you will first be given a contrast agent drink to make the gastrointestinal tract more visible for the CT scan.

Depending on the type of examination, you will be injected with sugar immediately or after a certain waiting period. In any case, you will be allowed to lie down for some time before the examination. During this time, you should relax as much as possible to prevent unnecessary accumulation of substances in the muscles. You should empty your bladder immediately before the examination, as we cannot interrupt the 20-minute scan. For the examination, you will be positioned as comfortably as possible on the mobile imaging table. The necessary adjustments and markings will be made. If necessary, an X-ray contrast medium will also be administered as a short infusion using an injection pump at the start of the CT scan.

If you suffer from claustrophobia, we can give you a sedative before the scan. However, you should be accompanied, as you will not be allowed to drive afterwards. In this case, please contact us by telephone before your appointment.

If so, please inform us no later than the day before the examination so that we can give you special instructions if necessary. If you take tablets to lower your blood sugar level in the morning, you should usually take them on the day of the examination. If you inject insulin, please skip the injection on the day of the examination and, if possible, come an hour earlier than the examination time you have been told so that we can measure your blood sugar and inject a short-acting insulin into the vein if necessary.

Please follow our instructions in all cases. Otherwise the examination cannot be carried out and the radioactive medication prepared for you will decompose without being able to be used. In addition, it may then not be possible to use the device, resulting in further costs.