PET (positron emission tomography) is used above all in the field of oncology for staging, evaluation of the response to therapy, and for the identification of the eventual recovery of the disease. Furthermore, there are numerous other indications in the infectious, neurological and cardiological fields. The field of our greatest interest is the high malignancy tumor pathology (lymphomas, breast carcinomas, lung, colon, prostate, uterine cervix, sarcomas). Constant is the search for new radiopharmaceuticals increasingly selective for the pathological process under examination (currently available at our center 18F-FDG, 18F-NaF, 11C-Colin, 11C-Methionine, 18F-DOPA, 18F-FLT, 68Ga-DOTANOC , 68Ga-PSMA).
PET is a diagnostic imaging technique, functional and total-body that has gradually assumed a central role particularly in the field of oncology, for the study of neoplastic forms with high malignancy, both for the initial staging and for the evaluation of the response to the therapy, the eventual recovery of disease and for the identification of the site of the unknown primary tumor. The metabolic alterations detected by PET allow a more accurate definition of the areas of active disease and of the lymph node involvement, as they can precede the appearance of anatomical alterations. The recent introduction of new PET / CT scanners allows the simultaneous acquisition of metabolic and anatomical information in a single session. The search for more and more specific PET tracers for the disease in question, allows to improve the identification of active disease sites. In addition to the diagnostic and evaluation of the response to therapy with 18F-FDG, the most commonly used tracer, we routinely perform investigations with tracers such as 11C-Colin, 11C-Methionine, 18F-DOPA, 68Ga-DOTANOC, 68Ga-PSMA.
