Imaging

Tracing and mapping

How PET/CT scans aid in early detection of diseases.

4min
Hildegard Kaulen
Published on March 28, 2022

PET/CT is a hybrid imaging procedure that visualizes metabolic processes. Since tumor cells have a different metabolism from normal cells, PET/CT is primarily used to aid in cancer diagnosis. PET/CT scans can also be used to evaluate Alzheimer’s disease and heart disease. 

This short film shows how this hybrid procedure works and how metabolic processes are visualized.


By Hildegard Kaulen

Hildegard Kaulen, PhD, is a molecular biologist. Following positions at Rockefeller University in New York and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, she now works as a freelance science journalist for newspapers and scientific magazines.