Without ever cutting into the skin, PET's biological imaging allows physicians to diagnose, treat and follow patients. PET is a powerful medical imaging procedure that noninvasively demonstrates the function of organs and other tissues. When PET is used to image cancer, a radiopharmaceutical (such as FDG, which includes both a sugar and a radionuclide) is injected into a patient. Cancer cells metabolize sugar at higher rates than normal cells, and the radiopharmaceutical is drawn in higher concentrations to cancerous areas. PET scans show where FDG is by tracking gamma signals given off by the drug.

About the Society of Nuclear Medicine
The Society of Nuclear Medicine is an international scientific and professional organization of more than 16,000 members dedicated to promoting the science, technology and practical applications of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging to diagnose, manage and treat diseases in women, men and children. Founded more than 50 years ago, SNM continues to train physicians, technologists, scientists, physicists, chemists and radiopharmacists in state-of-the-art imaging procedures and advances; provide essential resources for health care practitioners and patients; publish the most prominent peer-reviewed resource in the field of nuclear and molecular imaging: The Journal of Nuclear Medicine; sponsor research grants, fellowships and awards; and host the premiere nuclear medicine annual meeting. SNM members have developed--and continue to explore--biological and technological innovations in medicine to look noninvasively into the molecular basis of diseases to benefit countless generations of patients. SNM is based in Reston, Va.; additional information can be found online at www.snm.org.



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