Clinical PET

During the past decade Positron Emission Tomography (PET) has turned from a highly sophisticated tool developed for basic research in neurology and cardiology into an advanced nuclear medicine imaging technique ready for routine use. Along with remarkable technical improvements, an overwhelming number of PET studies has been published covering not only scientific but also relevant clinical problems. Due to this rapid development, comprehensive information about the current status of "clinical" PET is lacking. This text discusses the applications of PET in neurology, cardiology and oncology. In each section, following an introduction reviewing the present clinical demands, special diagnostic problems and their possible solution by PET are addressed. Results of conventional scintigraphic techniques are also mentioned, and compared with PET. In the last section, technical aspects (e.g. instrumentation, software) are presented, including statements of representatives of leading manufacturers in the field. This text provides a critical overview of relevant applications of PET for all those who are starting to run a PET facility or are planning to do so.
The book is also aimed at interested clinicians who are willing to utilize the diagnostic potential of PET.