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Positron Emission Tomography or PET is a powerful medical imaging technique allowing doctors to look at the organs and tissues inside their patients. PET scan technology utilizes the annihilation of positrons and electrons and represents an important real world application of nuclear physics.
To administer a PET scan, radioactive glucose analogue is injected into a patients body. Our cells use glucose for energy and by making it radioactive we are able to track the glucose through the decay process.
Scanner machines like the one shown on the right are lined with gamma ray detectors. When the radioactive glucose inside our bodies undergoes decay, gamma rays are emitted and picked up by the scanner.
The scanner records the angle and location each gamma ray hits the detector at, after enough data is gathered algorithms can work backwards and calculate where each ray originated from in our bodies. By calculating where this decay is coming from, we can determine where the radioactive glucose has latched onto in our bodies and find diseased cells.
To learn more about PET technology check out this Physics Forums Insights page.
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