The Department of Positron Emission Tomography (PET) conducts imaging diagnosis and clinical research of various diseases using PET/CT and PET-MRI scans, which are diagnostic imaging device. PET is an examination in which positron is administered into the body to visualize the various biological functions. A PET scan can create whole body images of the extent and metastasis of cancer, providing important information to diagnose the disease.
Our center installed a PET/CT and a PET-MRI that have been in operation since 2013. The PET-MRI is a hybrid-imaging modality that incorporates a PET detector within the MRI imaging device. The PET-MRI can easily and precisely be obtained fusion images of the MRI high precision anatomical image and the PET functional image, and it is used for diagnosis and clinical research.
PET inspect a wide variety of biological functions using various radiopharmaceuticals. At present, PET scans can be used FDG (fluorodeoxyglucose), oxygen gases (CO2, CO, C2) and ammonia(NH3). FDG-PET scans of epilepsy, ischemic heart disease, and cancers are covered by health insurance.
Our center performs diagnosis of brain tumors using amino acid metabolism ,diagnosis of the Alzheimer disease by scanning the amyloid accumulation in the brain.
In addition to clinical research the PET technique can also be applied to the field of innovative drug development such as pharmacometrics and microdose studies. This department, with other departments ,is contributed to medical research and innovative drug development in comprehensive measures from basic to clinical trials.
