I am one of the enquiry nurses and am posting because Lucie our moderator asked us if we might be able to clarify what scans can do. Scanning technology is a complex area of medicine so I’m afraid I am a bit out of my depth but as far as I know FDG-PET scans aren’t always so useful in picking up brain tumours because of high levels of uptake in the normal brain which is what Lorraine seems to have been told. CT or MRI scans are usually the mainstay of brain imaging often with the aid of a contrast medium.
PET and CT scans can be combined. Some places do PET-CT scans from the top of the head to the mid- thigh and others start from the base of the skull excluding the brain as a standard and I don’t think the sort of contrast medium used in CT scans are given as a standard either. But the doctors can ask for the scan to include the brain or the rest of the legs if they think it is needed and they can request a contrast CT scan as well.
I think the answer to Ginnntonic’s original question will depend on what the standard practice is at her husband's hospital and also what his doctors asked for.
I am one of the enquiry nurses and am posting because Lucie our moderator asked us if we might be able to clarify what scans can do. Scanning technology is a complex area of medicine so I’m afraid I am a bit out of my depth but as far as I know FDG-PET scans aren’t always so useful in picking up brain tumours because of high levels of uptake in the normal brain which is what Lorraine seems to have been told. CT or MRI scans are usually the mainstay of brain imaging often with the aid of a contrast medium.
PET and CT scans can be combined. Some places do PET-CT scans from the top of the head to the mid- thigh and others start from the base of the skull excluding the brain as a standard and I don’t think the sort of contrast medium used in CT scans are given as a standard either. But the doctors can ask for the scan to include the brain or the rest of the legs if they think it is needed and they can request a contrast CT scan as well.
I think the answer to Ginnntonic’s original question will depend on what the standard practice is at her husband's hospital and also what his doctors asked for.
