Monitor your health with PET CT imaging.
At Advanced Imaging, we are proud to offer Western Montana patients PET CT imaging to provide critical insights for your health. PET, or Positron Emission Tomography, is a highly specialized noninvasive imaging procedure that is used to assess the level of metabolic activity in various organ systems and tissues in your body. During a PET CT, PET imaging is combined with CT imaging and completed at the same time with the same machine. Together, these scans create more detailed images of areas inside your body than either scan can create by itself, providing our radiologists with valuable information about the structure and function of your organs.
We provide PET CT imaging at our Main Center in Missoula.
We proudly hold the American College of Radiology gold seal in PET CT, meeting highest quality and safety standards.
We offer several specialized diagnostic PET CT services.
PET CT scans are a powerful tool for diagnosing and treating cancer, including pulmonary nodules, prostate cancer as well as other cancers and serious conditions. PET CT scans are simple, painless and minimally invasive. They provide real-life answers and allow patients ultimate control over critical and vital healthcare decisions.
At Advanced Imaging, we offer:
F-18 FDG PET Scan
PSMA PET Scan
Dotatate PET CT Scan
What to Expect
Let’s help you prepare.
We’re here to make your visit as comfortable as possible. A little prep goes a long way in ensuring everything runs smoothly.
- Please drink at least two 8 oz. glasses of water prior to your appointment time.
- DO NOT eat or drink anything other than water for at least 6 hours prior to your exam. This includes sugar-free gum, mints, candy, coffee, tea and soda.
- Follow a low-carb diet for 12 – 24 hours before the scan.
- DO NOT exercise or engage in strenuous activity for 24 hours prior to your exam.
- Because the scanner room is kept at a cool temperature, dress warmly and comfortably in clothing that does not have metal.
- Please bring your insurance information and any previous X-rays, CT, MRI or other test results with you on the day of your exam.
- NOTE: our care team will provide detailed instructions prior to your exam day for your particular procedure.
- If you are pregnant or breastfeeding.
- If you weigh over 350 pounds.
- If you have had radiation therapy in the last 2 – 3 weeks unless outside the area of interest.
- If you have uncontrolled diabetes. Blood sugars above 200mg/dL may exclude you from having this procedure. Please contact your healthcare provider at least 48 hours prior to the procedure for medication adjustment, as indicated.
- If you use insulin PRN (as needed). Insulin used the day of your exam can adversely affect the PET images. Small doses 4 – 6 hours prior to the exam are acceptable, but please notify our staff.
- Please expect to be at your appointment for a total of 2.5 – 3 hours.
- You will be asked to arrive one hour prior to your exam time.
- Your care team will start with a brief interview.
- An intravenous catheter will be placed, and an isotope will be injected, which takes one hour to take effect.
- Depending on the procedure, some patients receiving a PET CT will need to take an oral contrast.
- The scan itself will take 30 – 60 minutes depending on which body parts are being scanned.
- Drink plenty of water after your exam to help flush the radioactive imaging material out of your system.
- Avoid contact with pregnant women, babies and young children for 6 hours after your PET CT scan. This is because you still have some radioactivity in your body from the radiotracer.
- Your results will not be immediately available. They will be interpreted by our board-certified diagnostic radiologists, who will contact your healthcare provider to report the findings of the scan.
PET CT FAQ
Still have questions?
The radioactive material passes out of the body through urine or stool (feces). It may take a few hours or days to completely pass out of the body. Drink lots of fluids after the test to help flush it out.
A regular PET scan can be used for the entire body and detecting different types of cancer using FDG – 18 isotope.
Prostate-specific membrane antigen positron emission tomography (PSMA PET) highlights cancer cells by absorption of radiation from a diagnostic isotope (i.e., 68Ga). That isotope connects with a prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) on prostate gland cells or PC cells. It may be used to help diagnose prostate cancer that may have recurred or spread to other parts of the body.
PSMA PET scans for prostate cancer provide better care for men who are initially diagnosed with prostate cancer or for men who were previously treated but have experienced a recurrence of the cancer. In both cases, PSMA PET is better able to find the extent of this cancer in the body.
PSMA PET imaging is an FDA-approved scan with more precise detection of prostate cancer for better treatment planning and targeted care. It is more effective in pinpointing and eliminating tumors not only in the prostate but also throughout the pelvis and the body in cases where tumors have migrated.