PET (positron emission tomography)
A scan that shows where a radioactive tracer accumulates, so it images what tumours are doing rather than what they look like.
Overview
Positron emission tomography detects the paired 511 keV gamma photons produced when a positron from a radioactive tracer annihilates with an electron; coincidence detection localises the source and the standardised uptake value (SUV) quantifies it. Isotopes such as 18F, 68Ga, 89Zr and 64Cu are attached to a targeting molecule, and the tracer determines what is measured: glucose metabolism (FDG), receptor expression (PSMA, SSTR, TROP2, HER2), stroma (FAP), immune cells (CD8) or DNA repair (PARP). In clinical use since 1975, it is almost always combined with CT or MRI for anatomic reference. Its strengths are whole-body biology in one quantitative scan and the fact that any target with a ligand can in principle be imaged. Resolution of about 4 mm and tracer supply and cost are the main limitations. PET images what tumours are doing rather than what they look like.
- Detector ring
- Tracer uptake
- 511 keV photon pair
How it works
Positron-emitting isotopes (18F, 68Ga, 89Zr, 64Cu) attached to a targeting molecule; coincidence detection of 511 keV photons; standardised uptake value (SUV) quantifies uptake.
- Whole-body biology in one scan
- Quantitative
- Any target with a ligand can in principle be imaged
- Resolution ~4 mm
- Tracer supply and cost
- Inflammation confounds FDG
Dependencies
Open the dependency map →Dependencies are what this technology cannot be delivered without: manufacturing steps, instruments, software, upstream methods. See its full chain on the map.
Choline C-11 was the first PET tracer approved in the United States, in 2012, to find where prostate cancer has come back when PSA rises after treatment; PSMA tracers have now largely replaced it.
Florastamin is FutureChem's fluorine-18 PSMA PET tracer, and the first prostate cancer diagnostic developed in South Korea to be approved there — Korea's 43rd domestically developed new drug.
A brain-tumour PET tracer that shows where active tumour tissue is by how much it grabs a labelled amino acid, which helps tell a true regrowing tumour apart from scan changes caused by past treatment. Approved by the FDA in September 2026, the first scan of its kind cleared for this use in the US.
Fluciclovine F-18 was the first PET tracer approved for finding recurrent prostate cancer after treatment (2016), and has been largely superseded since 2020 by PSMA PET.
The radioactive sugar used in almost every cancer PET scan, approved in the 1990s and made fresh each day by regional cyclotrons.
A tracer originally built to look at brain dopamine cells in suspected Parkinson's disease. Because certain hormone-producing tumours use the same chemical machinery, doctors also use it, off-label, to find those tumours -- especially adrenal gland tumours called pheochromocytoma.
A PET scan that shows which breast cancer deposits still have oestrogen receptors, helping decide whether hormone therapy will work when biopsy is impractical.
An experimental PET tracer that measures how fast tumour cells are dividing, rather than how much sugar they burn. It has been studied in research settings for over 20 years but has never been approved as a medicine.
An experimental PET tracer that looks for a specific docking protein (CXCR4) that some blood cancers and a minority of solid tumours carry in excess. It is a research tool, not an approved scan.
PSMA-1007 is a fluorine-18 PSMA PET tracer from ABX in Germany, widely used in Europe for prostate cancer staging because little of it reaches the bladder, and in a phase 3 trial registered by its maker.
A radioactive form of fluoride that collects in areas of bone rebuilding. A PET scan after the injection shows those hot spots, which can be cancer that has spread to bone or something harmless like a healed fracture.
Zirconium-89 girentuximab is Telix's PET scan that tells whether a kidney mass is clear cell renal cell carcinoma without a biopsy; the phase 3 ZIRCON trial met its endpoints in 2023 and the product is under regulatory review.
Latest papers
topQuery for this technology: (TITLE:"positron emission tomography" OR ABSTRACT:"positron emission tomography") AND (radiopharmaceutical OR radioligand OR radionuclide OR theranostic OR "nuclear medicine" OR "molecular imaging" OR radiotracer OR scintigraphy OR cancer OR tumor OR tumour OR oncology OR carcinoma OR lymphoma OR leukemia OR leukaemia OR myeloma OR sarcoma OR melanoma OR glioma). Results are unfiltered search hits about PET (positron emission tomography), not a curated reading list.
Similar pages
not linked directly; found by shared links- CompanyGE HealthCare
Shares Fluoroestradiol F-18 (FES PET), Sodium fluoride F-18, PET/MRI, CT, MRI and PET scanner manufacturing.
- IndicationProstate cancer
Shares PSMA-PET to Guide Prostatectomy, Investigating the Safety and Diagnostic Performance of 68Ga-NYM032 Injection PET/CT in Men With Newly Diagnosed Prostate Cancer., Safety and Diagnostic Performance of uPAR PET Imaging in Localised, Untreated Prostate Cancer, This Study Evaluates the Diagnostic Performance and Safety of 68Ga-NYM032 PET/CT Imaging in Patients With Suspected Recurrence of Prostate Cancer..
- CompanySiemens Healthineers
Shares Total-body PET for screening and ultra-low-dose imaging, PET/MRI, CT, MRI and PET scanner manufacturing, Nuclear medicine and total-body PET hardware.
- IndicationGlioma & glioblastoma
Shares Fluorothymidine F-18 (FLT), Floretyrosine F-18 (FET), Bradykinin B1 receptor (B1R), Fluciclovine F-18.
- CompanyUnited Imaging
Shares Total-body PET for screening and ultra-low-dose imaging, PET/MRI, CT, MRI and PET scanner manufacturing, Molecular imaging roadmap: FDG → PSMA → FAP → antigen and immune PET.
- TechnologyRadioligand therapy (beta emitters)
Shares Alpha-9 Oncology, Evergreen Theragnostics, Wolfgang A. Weber, Thomas A. Hope.
- CompanyTelix Pharmaceuticals
Shares Floretyrosine F-18 (FET), Zirconium-89 girentuximab, CAIX PET (89Zr-girentuximab), PET tracer manufacturing and distribution.
- IndicationPrimary aldosteronism
Shares Gallium-68 pentixafor, CXCR4 imaging instead of adrenal vein sampling, Carbon-11, PET/CT.
indications
3isotopes
11fronts
2technologies
21targets
3drugs
12companies
3institutions
1terms
5trials
11roadmaps
2ideas
1people
4opportunities
2Open tools
All open tools by front →Open-source software, hardware and data projects catalogued by a third party, the Open Medical Registry, that bear on this technology. Listing is not endorsement; check each project's own licence and validation before clinical use.
- calculate-suvMITsoftware
Tiny library for calculating Standardized Uptake Value for Nuclear Medicine (i.e.
- GateLGPL-3.0software
Official public repository of Gate
- MIPsegmentatorV1Apache-2.0software
A 3D lesion segmentation method on whole-body PET images including automated quality control.
From the Open Medical Registry (openmedical.sh), an MIT-licensed catalogue of open-source medicine. Blurbs are one line from each registry record; every project keeps its own licence.