PET Scan, Healthy Brain
PET scan showing an axial view of the activity of the right hemisphere of a human brain. The front of the brain is at top. Brain activity goes from blue (lowest) through green and yellow to red (highest). Active areas include the cerebrum's grey matter (top & upper right). Also labeled are the thalamus, putamen, hippocampus, and the insula lobe of the cerebrum. PET scans detect the emissions from a radioactive tracer in the blood. The location of the emissions allows the brain's functioning to be observed because active regions of the brain have a greater blood supply. Positron emission tomography (PET) is a nuclear medicine, functional imaging technique that produces a three-dimensional image of functional processes in the body. The system detects pairs of gamma rays emitted indirectly by a positron-emitting radionuclide (tracer), which is introduced into the body on a biologically active molecule. Three-dimensional images of tracer concentration within the body are then constructed by computer analysis. In modern PET-CT scanners, three dimensional imaging is often accomplished with the aid of a CT X-ray scan performed on the patient during the same session, in the same machine.
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Photo credit: © Photo Researchers / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: -invasive, axial, brain, cerebrum, diagnostic, emission, healthy, hippocampus, human, image, imaging, insula, lobe, medical, medicine, nuclear, pet, positron, procedure, putamen, radiology, scan, technique, test, thalamus, tomography, view
