What You Can Expect During a PET Scan

Woman's works with radiological centers in and around the Baton Rouge area to provide positron emission tomography, or PET scans. PET scans are an advanced nuclear imaging tool that physicians use to locate cancer cells throughout the body.

In a typical PET scan:

• You will be given an injection of a substance that consists of a combination of a sugar and a small amount of radioactively labeled sugar.  
• The scan then tracks where the radioactive sugar is absorbed and can help locate a tumor because cancer cells absorb sugar more intensely than other tissues in the body. 
• This procedure can take two to three hours start to finish. 
• Not all types and stages of breast cancer require a PET scan. 
• With this scanning technology, physicians can more accurately diagnose a tumor and pinpoint where cancer cells are located in the body.