There are so many medical terms that a layman has a difficulty getting a grasp on. PET, CT, MRI, PET-CT scans are different type of scans with their own uses and procedures.

The experts at Capitol Hospital will be trying to lessen this confusion and discussing the differences among these scans.

• PET (Positron Emission Tomography) is a non-invasive test which scans the cellular function of the human body. A single PET scan is all you need for a physician to examine your entire body and detect problems if any. Also, it helps determine the scale in which your body has been affected and give a proper diagnosis and treat every individual patient accordingly. The progress can be tracked and monitored.
• CT (Computed Tomography) uses many X-rays measurements from a variety of angles so as to get an accurate picture of the body’s shape, size and the location.
• The MRI(Magnetic resonance imaging) scanner uses the magnetic and radio waves to create pictures of the tissues, the organs and other structures within the human body, which can then be viewed on a computer and diseases can be diagnosed.
• Using an MRI scanner, we can make pictures of almost all the tissue in the body.
• The tissue that has the least amount of hydrogen atoms such as bones turns out dark, while the tissue that has many hydrogen atoms such as fatty tissues looks much brighter in the scan.By altering the timing of the radio wave pulses it is possible to gain information about the different types of tissues that are present.
• A CT or MRI scan can assess the size and the shape of body organs and tissues but they cannot assess how these organs work.
• A PET scan can show how an organ works, but without a CT or MRI image, it can be difficult to pinpoint the exact location of activity within the body.
• Combined a PET scan with a CT scan can give a more well-rounded picture of the patient’s situation
• There’s no ionizing radiation (X-rays) involved in producing an MRI scan.
• For this reason an MRI is preferred over a CT for imaging structures such as joints, the brain, and the spinal cord, where clearer and more anatomically detailed images are required.
• MRI scans are also expensive than CT scans, and take longer to complete. The length of the MRI scan depends on the region of the body being imaged.
• Cancer treatment is influenced heavily by the fact that in which stage it is detected, and that’s where the PET CT scanner comes handy.
• If used together(PET and CT), we can get a better accurate picture where cancer originates from and how it is spreading.
• PET sees the cellular structure and CT pinpoints the location of the anatomy’s shape, size and location.
• PET-CT has been used to detect various types of diseases for brain and heart and cancer in various parts of our human body.