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Doctors see success in scanner PET/CT device valuable tool in the fight against cancers Friday, August 28, 1998 By Anita Srikameswaran, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
A new, one-of-a-kind scanner that combines a familiar imaging technology with one that is lesser known could locate cancers and detect their spread earlier, reduce the need for biopsies, and better target sites that should be tested for cancer.
For the first time, researchers have successfully enhanced a CT scanner with a PET imaging system, creating a prototype machine that displays both the anatomy and the function of the tissue in the same exam.
"It's combining the best of both worlds," said Dr. Richard Baron, chairman of radiology for the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, where the device is being studied.
It could assess the extent of cancer more accurately than either type of scan alone and avoid unnecessary procedures, he added.
The device, which still carries the not-very-hip but literal moniker of the PET/CT scanner, is the brainchild of UPMC senior PET physicist David Townsend, an internationally renowned expert in the field. He proposed developing the combined system three years ago.
Currently, positron emission tomography, or PET, scans are done in some lung cancer patients to see if the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes in the middle of the chest, an abnormality that is not readily picked up with CT scans. When using CT alone, radiologists can only look to see if the lymph nodes have grown, a sign that the tumor may have spread.
Combining the two imaging technologies may eliminate the need for some biopsies. For instance, an area that looks unusual on a CT scan might be a candidate for biopsy, but could be eliminated if PET showed the same areas to have normal cell function.
Baron said biopsies could be inconclusive because a tumor might contain both dead and active tissue. If a tissue sample is removed from the dead area, it probably will not provide enough information to accurately diagnose cancer. With the combined system, a needle can be guided to a region that PET shows to be active, which is more likely to contain cells for an accurate diagnosis.
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