Whole Body Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography

Whole body positron emission tomography (PET) using F -18 Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) has been used for characterizing focal lesions, initial staging, monitoring recurrence, and post-therapeutic follow-up in various malignant tumors. A recently developed integrated PET/computed tomography (CT) scanner is able to perform hardware-based image fusion of functional PET and anatomical CT images with ease and high registration accuracy. F-18 FDG PET/CT is more useful than conventional PET due to the shorter scan time and easy differential diagnosis between physiological and pathological uptake, allowing for accurate anatomical localization, improved diagnostic confidence and accuracy, and better radiation therapy planning. The application of F-18 FDG PET/CT in oncology practice is on its sharp rise in Korea due to the recent change of the reimbursement system to allow insurance coverage along with its wide range of clinical utilities. Whole body PET/CT deserves a particular attention as a useful diagnostic imaging modality in oncology practice.